Damage
by AL19
Summary: AU Pain is what Shina had physically. Sorrow is what she had mentally. But the only thing that she had in her heart, that wasn't painful, was her love for Shinsuke Takasugi. What can she do about her feelings towards him? *HIATUS*
1. A scarred body

**The OC in this is the same one I used in "Broken Tears". You don't have to read that if you don't want to. And before you ask, no, I'm not a sadist to Shina. So, this story is AU, and it is set in the Edo period, but it's more traditional (Meaning no modern technology, though there might be a few "modern" items in this story). And no, this is not set during the Joui war (I don't read or write them). I will give you warnings for this story.**

**WARNING: This fic will contain violence (Though details of it won't be too explicit), some torture, heart-wrenching/angst-y moments, death (But do keep in mind that this is _not_ a tragedy, in fact, I hate tragedies), and Lemon. And I would say language as well, but I'm always using curse words in my other stories, so I don't really need to put that in as a warning.**

**Well, enjoy!**

* * *

The sun wasn't shining too bright in the sky, but that was because a few clouds were blocking it.

I entered a village, a village I did not know, and looked around, seeing that there weren't any people here. At least, in the street I was looking through. My purple eyes blinked.

I thought, _Is this an abandoned village?_

Sighing, I held onto the small wooden pole, connected to the small bag, and walked through the empty street.

A few days ago, my parents kicked me out of the house. Sure, I am 22, but that doesn't mean I know exactly what to do on my own. I've helped my parents ever since I was a little girl, and I wanted to continue helping them, but they pretty much forced me to leave. It was mean of them, but I didn't try to convince them anymore. The reason why I kept helping them throughout my childhood years was because they've always put too much stress on themselves, and that made me feel extreme sympathy for them. They were glad I helped out, but they decided for me to be on my own.

My home village was a little far away from here. Lucky for me, my parents packed some food into this bag, so that I wouldn't starve. So far, the bag was half-empty, so I know I need to slow down when I eat.

The palm in my left hand began to sweat, and when my brow rose, I wiped my hand onto my short-skirted dark-blue kimono. As I continued to walk through the street, I only saw one person run. No, wait, I saw two people. And they were children.

They were both boys, and they were tossing each other a ball. One of them kicked the ball, and the other caught it with both his hands.

Since I've never been to this village before, I decided to ask the little boys, "Excuse me, can you please tell me which village I'm in?"

The boys looked at me, widening their eyes. One of them held the ball as the other responded by asking back, "You're not from around here, are you?"

I shook my head.

The boy answered, "This village is named Senkurojima."

"Senkurojima?" I repeated, blinking my eyes a few times.

They both nodded. One of them replied, "And the reason why the word 'kuro' is in it, is because there's one part of the village that's very dangerous."

The slightly taller boy widened his eyes in shock, and swiftly turned his head, staring at him. He exclaimed, "Don't tell her that! Our mom told us to not speak of it to anyone!"

He yelped, "Oops!"

I raised a brow at them, wondering why they were giving me these expressions. They both bowed halfway, and exclaimed, "We're sorry! Forget we mentioned that!" With that being said, the two little boys ran, probably heading home.

The thought of what one of them said made me confused. "Kuro" does mean "black", but what part of this village would actually be dangerous? Are there…bad people there?

I sighed, deciding to forget it by scratching the top of my short, dark-blue hair. I resumed my walk.

_Senkurojima…that's a very unique name, but the comment that boy made me curious. But I'm going to forget it._

After walking for a good few minutes, I chose to take a break. I sat down on a bench, and set my bag on my lap, where I took the bag off of the wooden pole, and opened it up.

I picked up an orange, and peeled the skin off. A moment later, the skin was off, and I pulled each slide of the orange, and put it in my mouth. I ate it, and tasted the juices from the fruit. It was delicious.

"That's good," I muttered to no one in particular as I chewed on the slice of orange.

I looked down at my opened bag, and realized that the only food I had left was another orange, grapes, and a wrapped box, which had rice balls and cooked squid.

I frowned, and murmured, "I could've sworn I had more food. Maybe I ate some, and didn't even realize how much food I had left."

My shoulders slumped as another sigh escaped my lips.

Just then, an old woman was about to walk pass me, but she noticed me, and stopped, smiling, "Oh, hello, miss. I've never seen you here before."

I chuckled, replying to the woman, "I'm new here, though…I was basically traveling."

"Traveling? You look pretty young to be traveling alone."

"I'm 22. And I'm traveling because my parents kicked me out of the house."

She furrowed her brows slightly. "Why did they do that?"

I shrugged, "Because they thought I was old enough, even though I was actually helping them."

The old woman smiled again, "Well, good luck traveling."

"Thank you. But, there's one question I would like to ask."

"What is it?" She asked.

Thinking about the comment that little boy made, I asked back, "Is there really a dangerous place in this village?"

That's when her eyes widened. Was it something I shouldn't have asked? She answered, "You shouldn't ask a question like that. I know you're new here, but that is not to be discussed. However, I can only say that you should _never_ go there."

Before I got the chance to reply, she walked away from me. I stared at her back before she turned around a corner.

I thought as a cracked smile appeared on my face, _Well, that was awkward. Alright, I'm not going to ask people about this "dangerous" place anymore. Also, how am I going to know which part in this village is the actual dangerous place?_

I held my chin with my fingers as my brows were knitted. If someone would at least tell me where the dangerous place was, then I wouldn't have to worry at where I was going. But since nobody told me the exact spot, I would really have to be careful while walking through this village, named the Senkurojima.

Biting my lower lip, I closed the bag up, and placed it back on the wooden pole, where I picked it up, over my shoulder. I figured, "I better find some more food."

As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I began to walk through the street once again. This time, I turned around a corner, to the right, and saw no one in the street.

I began to wonder, _I wonder how many people actually live here._

That also made me wonder that if there really was a dangerous place in this village, then why didn't the rest of the villagers just leave? Did they not want to leave their homes or something?

Confusion came across my mind as my walk was beginning to slow down. I didn't stop walking, but my brows were knitted once again.

I passed a few houses, then turned around a corner again.

Suddenly, I heard a few other voices. Out of curiosity, I decided to hear what they were talking about, because it sounded like they were talking about the "dangerous" place.

It was a man and a woman talking to each other. The woman said, "I think we should leave this village."

The man sighed, "Is it about the Harumokiri gang?"

_Harumokiri gang?_

She replied, "It is. I don't want to stay here any longer, because those guys scare me. Then again, it scares _everyone_ in this village_._ I don't want to have the risk of getting harmed by one of those men from that gang."

"I understand, dear, but we don't really have anywhere else to go. Hell, my father is around 80 miles from here, so we can't go to the village he lives in."

"We don't have to stay with your father, though. We can at least try to find another village, where it doesn't have any yakuza groups."

The man sighed once again, "I don't know any other villages, sweetie."

"Honey, that doesn't make sense. Do you really need to know any other villages in order to live in one?"

I peeked at the two, making sure they wouldn't see me and catch me eavesdropping them. I don't like eavesdropping on other people, but my curiosity got the best of me. I saw the woman walking away from her boyfriend or husband.

I landed my back on a house, and bit my lower lip, thinking, _Harumokiri gang…are they from the dangerous part of this village?_

Right after my thought, I knew that it was a stupid question, because it's obvious enough that that gang is in that part of the Senkurojima village.

I wanted to forget about it, but the thoughts came back into my head. I clenched my teeth slightly as my hand gripped on the pole tightly. Then, I decided to run, and find out where that part was. I didn't want to disturb the property without actually knowing I was there, but the only thing I did want to know was what the men looked like. Would they have crazy-looking tattoos, and looked like they were messed-up, or would they just look like "normal" villagers? Either way, I was going to find out…that is, _if _I'm going to find out.

I turned around in every corner, trying to find at least some clues as to where the bad part was. So far, I didn't find any.

Forcing my feet to stop, a drop of sweat rolled down my cheek. I panted, feeling a bit exhausted from all that running. Hold on, did I run that much? Bah, whatever, I shouldn't worry about myself being tired right now.

Slowly, I took a few more steps forward, and as I gazed around, I saw what looked to be a dirt arena. And I'm calling it a dirt arena because the whole area looked like a big circle (Since it was a few feet down), plus it was obviously dirt. There were bushes all around it, so I didn't see it completely, but I was able to find out what it looked like.

I took a deep breath before walking closer. When I was really close to the bushes, I looked over them, and saw a big, wooden cross (In the dirt) with lots of big rocks all over the arena. There were also a couple of items, but since it was a bit far from where I was, I couldn't quite make it out.

But as I looked over the bushes, there was one thing that caught my eye. A melon, the size of a ball, was sitting beside the hill, and it looked clean. I didn't have much food in my bag anymore, and I knew that if I ran out, I would starve until I'd be able to get more.

At first, I really didn't want to go down the hill, because I would have a great chance of getting caught. But then, after thinking for a moment, I bit my lower lip, and decided to get that melon.

I set my bag down on the grass, and walked through the bushes, hesitantly going down the hill. I landed my foot on the side of the hill, but I accidentally trip, making myself slide down. I yelped, but quickly covered my mouth in case anyone was around. Blinking my eyes once, I didn't see anybody.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I quietly ran to the melon, crouching down.

But just as I grabbed the melon with both my hands, I heard a loud noise coming from not too far away.

"JUST WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

My eyes widened in shock when I saw a group of men. They all had cuts and scars on their bodies, and they (Most of them) also carried swords. They didn't have tattoos, but those scars on them were scary enough.

My hands began to tremble, but I didn't let go of the melon.

The men stared at me with smirks on their faces, and that's when I realized, _The Harumokiri gang! Shit!_

I immediately regretted going down the small hill, and I had attempted to leave the arena by climbing up the hill, but my body suddenly shook.

One of the gang members yelled, "LET'S GET HER!" No sooner after that, all of them began to charge towards me.

I turned my head around, seeing that they were coming to me…fast. My eyes went wide as my face sweat.

I reached the top of the hill while holding the melon in one of my arms, but as I was about to kick myself up, I felt my leg being grabbed.

A loud gasp escaped me as one of the Harumokiri gang members muttered darkly, "You're not going anywhere."

When he chuckled in a sadistic tone, he forcefully pulled my leg, making me slide down the hill. I panicked while thinking, _What have I done?! Why did I decide to grab the melon?!_

I held the melon tight without breaking it. Another gang member laughed, "Do you really need that melon that much?" As I didn't answer him, he leaned down, grabbing the melon, and trying to pull it out of my hands.

But I wouldn't let go. I needed more food, otherwise I would starve. The guy who pulled me down grabbed the melon again, only this time, he forced the melon out of my arms, which made me gasp for a second time. He then looked down at me with an evil grin as he lifted the melon over his head.

I held my head with my hands, expecting him to throw the melon at me, but I didn't feel anything. I squinted my purple eyes, seeing that the guy actually threw it to the ground.

As the melon broke apart, my mouth parted as my eyes started to wide.

The guy looked at the expression on my face, and snickered, "Did you really want it? I'm sorry; let me help you with that."

He lifted his foot up, and then stomped it to the ground, crushing parts of the melon. My mouth was still parted, but my lips began to tremble. No, my whole body trembled.

The guy stomped his foot on the crushed melon a few times before stopping. He then crouched down, picking up some of the squished melon in his hand. There was dirt on it, so I knew that it wouldn't be good to eat anymore.

But the guy grabbed my short hair, and began to yank it by pulling me forward. My hands were off my head. I bit my lower lip hard to prevent myself from screaming, but it barely helped, because I whimpered behind my teeth.

His face was close to mine as he muttered darkly, "Do you still want it?" He tried to put the dirt-covered squished melon in my mouth, but I closed my mouth tightly, that way I wouldn't have to taste the awful dirt. If I had tasted it, then I would've gagged.

Thankfully, none of the dirt got in my mouth (Though it was on my chin). But the situation I was currently in was not over.

The guy said, "Tch." He tossed the melon to the ground, and stood up, still gripping on my hair. He pulled me up, making me stand up as well. My knees were bended slightly as I began to bawl my eyes out.

He was really hurting my scalp, and if he didn't let go soon, I would scream from the pain.

He formed his hand into a fist, and when he smirked evilly at me, he swung his fist, punching me in the stomach. This hit was hard, and as he punched me in the gut, I could feel something come up my throat.

My eyes widened in shock and pain as I coughed violently. Blood came out of my mouth, and some of it landed on the guy's outfit. I covered my mouth, trying not to throw up.

The scarred-up guy growled, "You bitch! This was my very special outfit! Now you're gonna pay!" As I looked up to him, being frightened, he ordered the rest of the gang, "Boys! Let's undress this skank!"

I furrowed my brows, feeling hurt at what he just said.

_Wh-What? Why did he just call me a skank? I don't show off my breasts or anything. That doesn't even make sense!_

The rest of the Harumokiri gang ran towards me, and the second the guy let go of my dark-blue hair, the others grabbed my arms, and kimono. Immediately, I struggled to get free from their grips, but sadly, it was no use. I couldn't get out of their grips, no matter how hard I tried. How would I be able to escape a lot of men anyway?

Another guy, with a scar across his right cheek, grabbed the edges of my kimono, and started to pull it apart, making my flesh show. My cheeks flushed, and the more I struggled (In spite of me already knowing that it was hopeless), the more tired I was getting.

Soon, the man ripped the front of my kimono off, having my breasts exposed. I widened my eyes, gasping in panic. The guy smirked all perverted as he licked his lips.

I didn't want these guys to rape me, and I certainly didn't want to lose my virginity to any of them. Ever since I was a teenager, my mother told me that rape is not okay. I completely understood it (Not that I thought rape was okay in the first place), and I know that it is wrong.

The guy who ripped my kimono apart, literally, said, "It's a shame she doesn't have big tits!"

Another one questioned as he held my chin, "True, but her breasts aren't small either."

"Ah, good point!" He snickered as he let go of my ripped kimono. The other men grabbed the sleeves, and pulled it to each side, making my short-skirted kimono come off.

As soon as it was off my body entirely, they tossed it to the ground. I looked at my torn-up kimono, seeing that it was now destroyed. It couldn't be worn anymore, which made me devastated.

Two other Harumokiri members grabbed my legs, lifting me up as another pair of two held my arms. I screamed, trying so hard to kick one of the guys in the face. I managed to do that, but that only made the guy angry as hell.

He pulled off my sandals as he shouted, "YOU BITCH! LET'S PUT HER ON THE GROUND!"

In a split second, I felt my body falling to the ground. The men were still holding me, but even then, they made my body hit the ground.

"GAH!" I gasped a shout as I noticed one of them holding his sword near one of my white stockings.

Staring, and feeling fear, he pinched part of my left stocking, and lifted it up, poking the tip of his sword through my stocking. Then, he ripped my stocking off of my leg. The gang members turned me around as they held my wrists, preventing me from hitting them. When the guy poked his sword through my other stocking, my heart was beginning to beat fast. I have aichmophobia, so everytime that damn sword got close to me, I would feel really horrified.

My other stocking came off of me, and the only piece of clothing I had left was my underwear. The same guy continued to snicker as he crouched, grabbing my underwear with his fist.

Just as I looked down, he pulled my underwear up to his face, making that rip as well. I gasped for the umpteenth time, and he laughed at my reaction.

"Are you this surprised, bitch?"

When I had a horrible feeling that they really were going to rape me, I heard another man's voice. And this voice was behind all the gang members.

"Oi, what do you think you're all doing?"

They all stopped at what they were doing to me, and turned their heads around, seeing the man who had just talked.

I managed to lift my head up slightly, and see who it was. When I saw him, I noticed his features. He had purple hair, with a bandage over his left eye. His eye color was olive. He wore a loose purple kimono with butterfly prints on it.

He had an expression on his face that wasn't too angry, but he did look mad.

One of the members responded, "This bitch trespassed in our territory, so we're going to punish her."

He asked again, "Did she do anything else?"

"She attempted to take a melon, but we caught her coming here, so we knocked her down, and ripped her clothes off!"

The purple-haired man chuckled in a high tone, "It may have not been smart of her to trespass here, but I'm not going to let you men rape her."

"Eh? Takasugi-Sama, what can we do to her, then?" Another member asked.

He blinked as he replied with a smirk, "Do whatever you want with her, but don't kill her, or rape her, as I've said. And make sure she learns her lesson about trespassing someone else's property."

All the men grinned, and looked at each other before exclaiming in response, "Yes, Takasugi-Sama!"

The man named Takasugi turned around, heading back to where he came from. I looked at where he was going, but my eyes gazed up, seeing a somewhat big building. It wasn't tall, but the design on it looked really beautiful. The building's roof was red, and the building itself looked like the color of gold-yellow.

But even when I was staring at the building, it didn't calm me down. He just told these guys to do whatever they want with me. I was glad that they wouldn't rape me, or kill me, but two guys pulled me up, grabbing me by the arms tightly. They gripped on my arms so tight, it hurt.

The one who was holding my right arm asked, "What should we do with this trespasser?"

The other, grabbing my left arm, exclaimed with a crackled laugh, "Let's tie her up on that cross!" He pointed at the wooden cross I saw a moment ago.

As more tears poured out of my eyes, all the gang members smirked, and nodded their heads in agreement. They then pulled me, making me walk to the cross. I didn't even bother trying to resist, because one of them punched me in the back. It hurt really badly.

I shut my eyes tightly as a whimper escaped my lips. In a matter of seconds, I was in front of the wooden cross.

The men turned me around, and took out some rope. My lips trembled like before as they slammed my back on the pole. I yelped in pain, but strangely enough, I was quieter than usual.

A man with a scar under his lip lifted my hand up, tying the rope around it, making my hand connect to the cross. Another guy did the same thing.

My feet were only a few inches off the ground, but it felt like I was hundreds of feet up in the air. I didn't know why I thought of that, actually.

The last part that the men tied was my ankles. My ankles were now together, and they were stuck on the wooden cross, because of the rope.

One of the members told me, "We tied your feet, that way you won't kick us." A scary chuckle escaped his lips as he turned his head around, yelling, "OI! WHERE'S THE WHIP?!"

That's when my heart sank. Were they going to…whip me?

A member with bandages on his forehead brought out a whip, and answered, "Its right here."

All of these men gave me terrifying smirks. And from these smirks, it felt like I was being sucked into the eyes of these bastards.

I was stuck on this cross, and there was nothing I could do to stop them. I was only on the cross for a few seconds, and my wrists were already starting to hurt.

The guy grabbed the whip from the other man, and held the handle in his hand, muttering, "You're not going to escape now, you skank."

I yelled in my mind, _I'M NOT A SKANK! CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!_

He lifted the whip up, and within seconds, he swung it down, making it hit my chest, by my collarbone.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The man who whipped me said, "My, what a nice scream you have. Well, you're being whipped, so you _should_ feel pain."

He swung it again, making it hit my torso. I screamed in pain once more. He swung the whip up and down, having it hit some parts of my body.

The pain I was receiving was excruciating. It was so bad, more and more tears poured out of my eyes. My vision was getting a bit blurry from the water that was forming in my eyes, and as they trailed down my cheeks, the guy whipped me right on the cheek.

"GAAAAHHH!"

Another one of the members grabbed the handle of the whip, and exclaimed, "Hey! It's my turn now!" He took the whip away without permission, and violently whipped me on the leg.

This whip made me cry out, "GAAAHHHH! MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE, I BEG YOU!"

My leg stung from the whip. Same with my torso and chest.

One of them raised a brow, but grinned, "Oh, we're not going to stop. You think we're stupid enough to let you go now? Boy, you are idiotic for even thinking that."

I furrowed my dark-blue brows as I panted heavily from all this pain I was getting. My cheeks were still red from embarrassment (Since I was naked from head-to-toe), and I barely moved around while still being tied up on the cross.

Almost every single man in the Harumokiri gang whipped me, all over my body.

I thought, _Now I know why the word "kuro" is in Senkurojima. But, why did the villagers call it that? I…just don't understand._

With just one more whip, which was on my calf, I cried out a scream. I couldn't take it anymore, and I was lucky that they've finally stopped.

I looked down at my body, and saw that there were _numerous_ cuts all over, from my chest, to arms, to my legs. There were so many cuts, I was in extreme shock. I didn't want to count how many there were because I was too afraid to even do that, plus I couldn't see all the cuts.

One guy asked while smirking sadistically, "Now what?"

Another replied, "Let's leave her to die."

They all laughed with those scary looks still attached to their scary faces. After their laughter had died, they all walked passed me, and left. I heard them comment randomly, forgetting what had already happened.

_They're leaving me to die? Am I really going to die here when I'm not that old?_

I never wanted to die in my twenties; in fact, I would want to at least turn 40 before I die. But, maybe that's not going to happen. I'm going to die just by being tied up to a cross, completely naked, and out in the open. Yes, I was embarrassed entirely when those guys saw my naked body, but being whipped several times non-stop was torturous.

Why did these assholes do this to me? They could've at least put a warning by this arena, telling people to not trespass here. And it still confuses me on why some people still live in this village!

Also, even if those boys didn't mention this place, I still would've accidentally trespassed here. Why would a village, with very few people, have a spot where a gang is involved? This was much worse than any yakuza group I've ever heard of.

I felt a breeze on my stomach and face, and thought as I felt a bit chilly, _So…I really am going to die. It looks like I'll never be able to visit my parents again. They won't know what happened to me. I don't even know anybody from this village._

I wondered if either of my parents would find out about my death.

Well, they would probably wonder why I haven't visited them if I did die.

It was getting a little dark out, but I was terrified of the dark. Actually, I have nyctophobia (My second phobia), so when the sun was setting, I knew I would have to suffer through the night, alone.

How I was able to sleep while traveling was scary, but I managed to sleep. But for this…no, I won't be able to go to sleep at all. I'm just going to have to suffer from the stinging inside my body.

Just then, I felt like I was getting dizzy. The cold winds continued to blow on me, and the more I felt it, the colder I was. And since I'm naked, then there will be a chance that I'll get hypothermia.

Perhaps I did deserve to die.

**-3****rd**** POV-**

When it was really dark out, there was a young woman, who heard screaming earlier. The woman had salmon-colored hair, where she had two small pigtails on the back of her head. She also had blue eyes. The woman wore a light-blue room-wear kimono.

She heard screaming a few hours ago, and she couldn't help but wonder if it came from the Harumokiri gang in that one area where nobody is allowed to go to. The screaming was so intense, that it was obvious enough _someone_ was in pain.

The woman kept on running as she thought, _I have to find out where that screaming came from!_

She clenched her teeth slightly as she was getting close to the Harumokiri area. She decided to find the person, who screamed, in the dark, because people can't really see others when it's dark outside.

As soon as she was in front of the bushes, where it was beside the area, she looked down, trying to see if there was anybody here.

There was.

The woman had good vision, even when it was dark, so she got a clear view of what the person looked like. But what she saw shocked her completely.

The person, who was a woman, was on a wooden cross, with her wrists and ankles tied by rope. Her body was naked and whipped, and it was disgusting for the salmon-haired girl to look at, due to all the fresh cuts. The woman had short, dark-blue hair. She couldn't quite see what the color of her eyes was, though.

Before she was going to go into the area, she noticed a bag, connected to a wooden pole. She picked it up, and examined it before realizing that it belonged to the person who was connected to the cross.

She looked around as she dropped the bag, making sure that none of the Harumokiri members were to come out. After a moment of looking, she figured that now was a good time to make her move. She jumped from the bushes, and ran towards the cross.

She was going to rescue this poor woman.

As she was now close to the whipped-up woman, she began to untie the rope. She thought angrily, _How could those bastards do this to such a poor woman?_

She finished untying the rope that was on the woman's right wrist, and then started to untie the other rope, which was on her left wrist.

She thought once more, _A woman should never suffer through this! Ever! Why did they whip her? Why?!_

The ropes were now off, but all that was left was the rope that was still around the woman's ankles. The sympathetic female knitted her brows as she quickly undid the rope.

Finally, all the ropes were off of her, and when she carried the woman from under her back and legs, she looked into her eyes, and found out the color.

_Purple._

Biting her lower lip softly, she let go of her back for a brief moment, setting the tip of her two fingers on her chest, where her heart was. She wanted to make sure she was still alive; otherwise there would be no point in "saving" a dead person.

Fortunately, she felt a few heartbeats, but they were slow. The female clenched her teeth, and took a deep breath before placing her hand under her back, and running away from the area.

She tried to get out of the area as quick as possible. This wasn't the first time she's seen the Harumokiri area; in fact, this was her second time, though when she first saw it, she got scared. But she felt less scared, since she's an adult now. Yes, she first saw it when she was a teenager.

The woman finally left the area, and she was really glad she wasn't caught by any of those gang member bastards.

The person she was carrying was no doubt unconscious. If she hadn't rescued her, she could've died from hypothermia.

She ran as fast as she could, that way she could help her.

A few moments later, she came back home, but yelled as she quickly opened the door, "ZURA!"

Her roommate, who was male, corrected her while knitting his brows, "It's not Zura. It's Katsu-" Before he could finish his sentence, he saw the woman the salmon-haired girl was carrying. His eyes snapped wide in utter shock. He was carrying a somewhat big bowl, but due to having this much shock, the bowl slipped out of his arms.

The bowl hit the ground, causing a loud sound. The man ignored it, and asked as his fingers started to tremble, "Wha-What the hell is this?"

"I found her in the Harumokiri area!"

"Wait, the Harumokiri area?" He asked again, only his cheeks started to flush from seeing a naked woman. She nodded.

She exclaimed, "I don't think she's from around here, so she must've trespassed that area by accident! Zura, we need to help her! Go get some bandages!"

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura. But don't worry, I'll get the bandages! You take her to the spare room!"

"Right!" As soon as she said that, she ran to the spare room. She opened the sliding door, and took a few steps into the room. But because she was in slight panic, she had forgotten that the futon wasn't set up.

"Dammit," She cursed under her breath. The female bit her lower lip before slowly, and gently, placing the harmed woman on the floor.

As the woman was now on the floor, the other girl looked at her hands, seeing a bit of blood on it. She thought with furrowed brows, _Blood…she really was whipped that badly._

There weren't any whips on the woman's back, but the fresh blood trailed down there from the cuts on her hip. Her head was to the side as her eyes were nearly closed. There were no highlights in them, but she was still alive.

The redhead brought out the futon, and set it on the floor. When she knew that it was straight enough, she walked back to the dark-blue haired girl, and carefully picked her up, carrying her until she set her on the futon.

The man came into the room, holding a few rolls of bandages. They were lucky that had a lot; otherwise it wouldn't be enough to cover all the cuts. The man had long black hair, with dark eyes. He wore a light-blue room-wear kimono, like the girl. Well, the only clothing they had was light-blue room-wear kimonos. They didn't need any more clothes than that.

He said, "Here're the bandages, Kagura-Chan."

The girl named Kagura replied as she turned her head around, "Thanks. Now help me lift her upper body up. I need to be able to wrap the bandages around her chest, and some on her arms and legs. I don't think we'll be able to cover all the cuts on her body, but I want to at least cover most of them."

His cheeks flushed once more as he questioned, "Do I really have to? I mean, she's _naked_…"

"You need to help."

The man sighed, "Fine, but I'm going to feel uncomfortable doing this." With that, he walked to the other side of the futon, and knelled down, sliding his hands under the woman's back. He flushed more as he shut his eyes, slowly pushing her upper body up.

Kagura rolled her eyes as she told him, "Set one of your hands on the back of her shoulders." The man did so.

He pulled his other hand away as Kagura began to wrap the bandages around her breasts.

She thought as she knitted her brows again, _She didn't deserve to be whipped. This poor woman…_

All she and the man could do was feel sympathy for her.

**-Shina's POV-**

The stinging was still running through my body, but suddenly, it didn't feel as bad as hours ago.

The sun shined on my eyes, and my eyelids twitched before they were lifted up. I groaned quietly as I noticed a wall beside me.

I blinked in slight confusion, now wondering where I was. I was in this comfy futon. My eyes gazed down, seeing that I was wearing a light-blue room-wear kimono. I widened my eyes, and thought, _Eh? Did someone…help me?_

Not only was I wearing this room-wear kimono, but I also noticed some bandages on my chest. I pulled the edges of the kimono to each side slowly, and saw that the bandages were wrapped from my breasts, to above my bellybutton.

My mouth parted, staring at the bandages. But that wasn't the only place on my body that was wrapped. I pulled the sleeves down, and saw bandages on my upper left arm, and my forearm on my right. Then, I lifted my upper body up, and pulled the blanket off of me, seeing that there were also bandages on my left thigh and right calf. I still saw a few whips on my leg, but they didn't look as horrible as yesterday.

_That's right. Those assholes whipped me._

As I narrowed my eyes, I heard the door opened. I turned my head to the side, seeing a girl come in. She was carrying a tray of food. I thought, _Is that my breakfast?_

She blinked her blue eyes before saying with a smile, "Oh, you're awake. That's good. Here's your breakfast." The girl set the tray beside me.

She knelled on the floor, and added, "Before you ask, yes, I saved you. I saved you from dying of hypothermia in that area. And I can tell you're not from around here, huh?"

Blinking my eyes yet again, I answered while tilting my head down, "Right. I'm not from here, in fact, I just came here yesterday."

"I see. And you didn't know that that was the dangerous part of this village, correct?"

"Yes," I answered more quietly.

"That makes sense. Anyway, I heard you screaming yesterday, and since I can't stand innocent people getting hurt like that, I had to save you."

"Was I…still naked, though?" My cheeks flushed slightly, remembering that I was naked the other day.

The girl half-smiled, "You were, but the good news was we had an extra pair of those room-wear kimonos, so we let you wear it."

"Wait, 'we'? You have a roommate?"

"Yes. But let me introduce myself first. My name is Kagura."

I stared at her for a few seconds before introducing myself as well, "My name is Shina."

"Shina…that's a nice name!"

I half-smiled also. Kagura said, "I'm going to go get my roommate. I'll be right back." She stood up, walking out of the room.

My eyes looked at my wrists, which were a bit red from the ropes. I lowered my eyelids as I felt my wrist with my fingers.

While I looked at my wrists, the image of me being tied on that cross almost made me cry.

Kagura came back into the room, only this time, she brought in a man.

I looked at the duo as the man, and Kagura, knelled beside me. The man introduced himself with a slight bow, "Hello. My name is Kotaro Katsura."

I replied, "It's nice to meet you, Katsura-San."

"Please, just call me Kotaro."

"Eh?" I questioned, but then added, "Alright, Kotaro-San."

He smiled, but said a bit weakly, "Kagura-Chan told me she found you. What happened to you? Why did the Harumokiri gang whip you?"

My brows furrowed, but I was able to answer, "Well, first thing…two boys mentioned the dangerous place in this village. This village is named Senkurojima, right?" Kotaro nodded slowly. I continued, "Anyway, I didn't know where that part was, so I wanted to look for it, just so that I was aware. But I saw a melon down the small hill, and since I was low on food, I was about to get it, but sadly, I was caught. The men ripped off my clothes, and they almost raped me, but they didn't, because their leader, or so I believe he's the leader of that gang, told them to not do it. Instead, he just said, 'do whatever you want with her'. And that's how the gang whipped me."

As soon as I was done explaining, I bit my lower lip a bit hard, feeling tears come into my eyes. Tears were about to escape, but I wiped my eyes with my hands.

Kotaro and Kagura gave me sympathetic expressions, and Kagura asked, "Shina…where do you come from?"

Feeling that Kagura sort of changed the subject, I responded, "I originally lived in a village named Kenjuriko. It's sort of far from here. I was actually traveling through various villages because my parents kicked me out of the house. They said I was old enough, since I'm in my twenties."

Kagura replied, "Well, that was mean of them."

I sighed, "Believe me, I tried convincing them, but it didn't work."

Kotaro said, "From what you said before, you regret going into that area, huh?"

"Yes. I regret it completely," I almost cried.

Kagura narrowed her eyes as she said, "You didn't realize it, so how would you know in the first place?"

My head nodded in agreement. I then decided to ask, "By the way, I'm confused at something. Why do some people live in this village, despite the gang living here as well?"

Kagura and Kotaro stared at each other. After a few seconds, Kagura let out a sigh, "To be honest, we don't know ourselves. Zura and I don't want to live here, but we have to, because we 'work' with the doctors here in the Senkurojima village."

"You're doctors?"

"Not exactly. The real doctors require us to help them heal patients who're ill or badly wounded. The reason why they want us to help is because both me and Zura are experts at dealing with stuff like that."

I blinked, but asked, "Sorry for being off-topic, but I just heard you call Kotaro-San 'Zura'. Is that his nickname?"

"It is, but he always corrects me. I call him Zura anyway."

Kotaro corrected while knitting his brows, "It's not Zura. It's Katsura."

We were all quiet for a moment, but a thought came into my head.

_Takasugi…is he the leader, or do all those guys just respect him?_

Out of curiosity, I asked the duo, "Do you know a man named Takasugi?"

Right after my question, they widened their eyes in surprise. Kotaro scratched his head, but responded, "Almost everyone knows who he is, though most don't know what he looks like. Some people say he's the leader of the Harumokiri gang, but others say he does things his own way. I've seen him once, and I knew for a fact that he likes to see blood."

It was my turn to widen my eyes. I whispered, "So…he's like a criminal?"

"You could say that."

"What's his first name?"

Kotaro raised a brow while asking, "Why do you need to know?"

"I'm just curious. My curiosity is getting the better of me," I admitted.

Kotaro sighed quietly, but answered my previous question, "His first name is Shinsuke."

_Shinsuke Takasugi. So that's who he is._

Kagura told me, "Anyway! Eat up. You wouldn't want to have a starved stomach, would you?" She gave out a gentle chuckle.

I shook my head, saying, "No." I took the tray, and set it on my lap. I grabbed the chopsticks, and began to eat.

Kotaro and Kagura both stood up, and Kotaro said, "We'll leave you alone for now."

"Thank you," I muttered. They left the room, closing the door to give me a bit of privacy.

As I ate my breakfast, I noticed that this tasted delicious.

A small smile spread across my face, but I thought, _I'll have to be very careful while I'm staying here._

* * *

**Okay, I think that's a good place to end the first chapter. Anyway, I'm going to explain a few things before you review.**

**Yes, I did make up the names of the villages, because I didn't really feel like researching for actual villages. Besides, I don't follow most history in general, because it would take a long time anyway (Or maybe I'm just a bit lazy for that). **

**I have no idea when nyctophobia and aichmophobia were "discovered", so I'm keeping the phobias for Shina. And about the word "kuro" I put in twice, as much as I despise people adding in random Japanese words in fics that're in English, I did it because I thought it was really necessary.**

**Since this is AU, I should also explain on how much I "changed" some of the character's characters (Did I have to say that twice in a row? O.O).**

**Shinsuke Takasugi - Doesn't destroy everything, such as an entire village, but he's still violent, and evil, just like in the anime. So yeah, that's the only thing I changed about him for this story. I'm keeping him evil because I fucking love him! X3 Oh, and keep in mind that I will try to focus the story on Shinsuke and Shina. And call me crazy, but I actually like them as a couple (But like I said, I'm _not_ a sadist to Shina!). :O**

**Kagura - I made her human, and an adult, so I'm not going to make her say "uh-huh" at the end of her sentences. Besides, she said those as a teenager, and you can't stay the same as you get older. :P**

**Kotaro Katsura - Didn't really change him. I'm keeping his personality the same.**

**There will be more OC's, but I'm going to try to not add a lot. There will also be more Gintama characters in this. Oh, and Matako won't be in this, that way I won't have to deal with her attitude, since, you know, she loves Shinsuke as well. And just to let you know, Shina doesn't love Shinsuke right now (She will later).**

**Phew, sorry for the long-ass author's note! XP Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of "Damage"! :)**


	2. Creating new friends

**Enjoy!**

**Keddy: A room-wear kimono is a loose kimono you wear when you go to sleep.**

**DoctorPerky: I know I already PM-ed you, but thanks again for the constructive criticism. :) Though, I forgot to mention something. XP I decided to do a little bit of research for where the other characters (Both Gintama characters and OC's), in this story, live. But that's the only research I'll do, because I'm still not going to follow most history for this (I'm not trying to be rude). Sorry. :P Anyway, I hope you like this chapter as well! :)**

* * *

I ate my breakfast, alone.

Kagura saved me from getting hypothermia last night, since I was naked, on a cross, where my wrists and ankles were tied. And for the truth, even though we just met, I was really happy I didn't die.

I heard those Harumokiri bastards say, "Let's leave her to die", and I had really thought I was going to die. But I was glad I was wrong.

The cuts on my body still stung, but hopefully, the stinging wouldn't last long.

As I was still eating, I looked down at my chest, where it was bandaged up, and narrowed my eyes.

_I still can't believe those assholes whipped me._

Since I was going to be in this village for now, I would have to be _very_ careful. Yesterday, I didn't know where the bad place of Senkurojima was until it was too late. All I wanted was to eat that melon, so that I would at least fill my stomach up. But no. Those gang members had to rip off my clothes, and whip me.

I finished up my breakfast, and as if on cue, Kagura came back into the room. I blinked my eyes before turning my head, looking up at her.

She gave me a small smile, but I asked with a raised brow, "Heh, you know just when to come in here, huh?"

Kagura gave out a gentle chuckle as she waked over to me, taking the tray away from my lap. She replied, "I'm not psychic, but I know just when to come in. Anyway, can you stand up?"

"I…I think so." Right after I said that, I pushed the blanket off of my legs, and slowly made my legs bend. I then touched the futon with my hands, pushing myself up. There, I slowly stood up, and at first wobbled, but was soon straight.

The redheaded girl smiled before saying, "So you can stand up straight. Good. After I clean these dishes up, I should give you a tour of the house. Would you like that?"

I looked at her again, and answered with a half-smile, "That'd be wonderful. Thank you."

"My pleasure." Kagura walked out of the room, but left the door open. I blinked my purple eyes once before walking out of the room as well.

But as I walked, I realized…that I wasn't wearing any underwear. My eyes widened in shock as I could feel my cheeks burn.

_Crap. I'm not wearing any underwear. Hm, I wonder if Kagura-Chan has extra underwear I could wear._

My head lowered down as I quickly went into the kitchen. I saw Kagura again, only I asked her, "Um, K-Kagura-Chan…?"

She stopped at what she was doing, and turned around, asking back, "What is it, Shina-Chan?"

Taking a gulp, I questioned, "D-Do you have any underwear I could wear? I-I just realized I'm not wearing any."

Kagura slightly widened her eyes, but slapped her forehead, replying, "That's right! I knew I forgot something! I apologize for that, Shina-Chan! Here, I'll get you a pair right now! You're lucky Zura isn't here at the moment!"

"Where did he go?" I asked with curiosity.

The girl ran to her room, and responded as she rambled through her closet, trying to find a pair of underwear for me, "He went to the lake to capture some fish."

"Is that what he normally does?"

"Most of the time."

"So…he fishes, even though he wears a room-wear kimono?"

"Is that bad?" Kagura questioned with raised brows.

I yelped slightly as I waved my hands at her with a cracked smile, "I-I didn't say that! It's just…I've never heard of a person going fishing in their room-wear kimono."

Kagura gave me a smile before replying to me, "Shina-Chan, to us, it doesn't matter what we wear, as long as we don't rip the clothing apart. We don't need any more clothing than what we have already."

She continued to ramble through her closet for a few seconds before finally getting out. "Ah, here we are!" She held a pair of white underwear. Kagura walked towards me, and added, "Here you go, Shina-Chan."

Feeling a little awkward, I asked, "A-Are you sure you're fine with me wearing your underwear?"

"Actually, I never really wear white underwear. To me, they're too…plain."

"I see," I replied, giving out a somewhat sigh of relief. I took the pair of underwear from Kagura's hands, and placed them under my feet, sliding them up until it covered my private area. I quietly said, still feeling my cheeks burn, "Thank you."

She patted my arm as she said, "Anytime. I better finish cleaning those dishes up." With that, she ran out of the room, going back to the kitchen.

I narrowed my eyes, gazing at the floor. I thought while slightly clenching my fists, _I know we met just today…but dammit, I'm so happy I didn't die from hypothermia!_

If Kagura didn't save me, I probably would've died in a few days.

I decided to leave the room, and slowly walk into the hall. I only took a few steps before hearing Kagura finish up with the dishes.

Kagura came into the hall, and gently held my wrist, asking, "Are you ready for me to give you a tour?" I gave her a nod. She added with a big smile on her face, "Alright then!"

She pulled me, making me follow her, but she soon let go of my wrist.

The first room she saw me was Kotaro's room. And I could tell it belonged to Kotaro because of the accessories that were in here. Kagura opened the sliding door up, and pointed the whole room with her finger as she said, "This is Zura's room. He likes to collect shiny objects."

I scanned the room, seeing a few rocks that were actually shiny. I raised a brow, but questioned the girl, "Kagura-Chan, are those crystals?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Zura believes those are crystals, but I don't think that's true. Though, I'm not going to complain, because it's his choice to keep these rocks. Honestly, it's not necessary to collect tons of rocks that're useless."

"Uh, were you talking to me or to yourself?"

"Both."

I rolled my eyes as we left the room. Kagura closed the door, and told me, "Our house isn't that big, but we have some interesting stuff."

"Like what?" I decided to ask.

Kagura and I walked into another room, only she responded, "This room is where we get paperwork from the doctors. Most of them are years old, so they aren't very important anymore." She walked into the room, and I followed her again.

I stared at the papers, that were stacked onto each other, and thought, _Wow. These are pretty organized._

Since Kagura said those papers were years old, I asked, "Kagura-Chan. How old are you and Kotaro-San?"

Immediately, she answered, "I'm 25, and Zura's 27."

My eyes widened a bit. I half-knew they would be a bit older than me, but I didn't realize they were _that_ older.

Kagura repeated, "How old are you?"

"I'm 22."

"Hm, so you are younger than Zura and I!"

"I don't think that matters, Kagura-Chan."

She gave me a smile as she picked up a random box. She then opened it up, taking out a few small bottles of…I don't know what it is.

Before I got to ask what were in her hands, Kagura explained to me, "These bottles contain medicine for the sick people. It can heal them in about 24 hours. And it really does work. Zura and I tried it on a sick little boy last year, and the medicine approved."

I gazed at the medicine that was in her hands. She put them back as she continued, "But since there aren't very many people in this village, we don't have much medicine."

"I'm just wondering. How many people actually live here, aside from the Harumokiri gang?" The second I asked that question, my heart started to ache. My eyes snapped open before my hand clenched on the room-wear kimono I was wearing.

I shut my eyes tightly as a drop of sweat trailed down my cheek. I bit my lower lip.

_Shit, why do I feel this ache in my heart?!_

Kagura dashed towards me, and asked in a bit of panic, "Are you okay, Shina-Chan?!" She held my upper arms for support, preventing me from falling to the floor.

My heart soon stopped aching, and I gave her a weak smiling, responding in a whimper, "I'm fine. I guess I had a bit of pain when I said the gang name."

She furrowed her brows at me. "You worried me there for a second."

"I'm sorry."

Kagura let go of my arms, but answered my previous question, "From what I've counted, there're approximately 20 people living here."

"So this village is abandoned after all."

"It's somewhat abandoned."

"That makes sense. It's all because of the…that gang, right?"

She nodded her head. I sighed, "Is it terrifying living here?"

"Not if I'm brave enough to fight those bastards, in case they try to kill me."

"Hm…" I trailed off, but then continued, "Where did you originally come from?"

That was actually something I had not expected myself to ask. I touched my bottom lip with the tips of my fingers. I don't really regret asking that question, but I had a feeling that this was none of my business.

But Kagura answered anyway, "I originally lived in Chiba. The reason why I left my home was because of my brother."

"Your brother?" I sort of repeated, removing my fingers from my lip.

She nodded her head. "My brother's the ruler of Chiba, and ever since our father died, my brother took over. But, he's been a real asshole to me, always commenting about why it's so great about being the ruler of Chiba. Then, he would hurt his servants without any reason whatsoever. I was sick and tired of it, so I ran away from home, without even bothering to tell him."

"When did you run away?"

"Nine years ago. I made a _long_ journey from there, to here. Well, I didn't know where to live at first, but I decided to live here, because I was getting tired of walking."

"When did you find out about the gang?" It felt like I was asking Kagura too many questions, but she didn't look like she minded it.

She replied, "I found out about the Harumokiri gang three months after I decided to live here. I was scared of them as a teenager, but as I got older, I got less scared of them."

We both walked out of the room, and then walked through the hall. Kagura asked me, "Do you want to know how I met Zura?"

I said, "I don't mind."

"Well, I met him while I was getting some fruit for snacks and such. Then I bumped into him, and yelled, 'watch it, punk'. He just replied, 'it's not punk. It's Katsura'. I don't remember what happened right after that, but we talked to each other for a while, and he told me that he came from Matsubushi, in Saitama. I told him that I came from Chiba. So yeah, that's all I remember. Oh, and he had nowhere else to stay, so he decided to live with me."

"Interesting. So does that mean your home's big?"

"Yes, it's very big. There wouldn't be a ruler if it was a small village."

"Er, good point," I muttered, scratching my cheek with my nail.

"What about you? Is your home big?"

"Actually, no. There are around a hundred people in my village, so it's pretty small."

"I see." That's all Kagura said.

Just then, we heard the front door open. Our heads turned, only to see Kotaro, holding a net of fish.

He exclaimed as he took off his sandals, "I'm back!"

Kagura smirked at him for some reason, and walked towards him while replying, "Hey there, Zura. I was just showing Shina-Chan our house."

"It's not Zura. It's Katsura."

Kagura ignored him by saying, "You got fish?"

Kotaro nodded. "I did. And I got plenty for dinner tonight."

"Good! Haha!"

"It's not funny, you know."

"Who cares?"

Kotaro just rolled his eyes.

I decided to ask him, "Kotaro-San, how often do you go fishing?"

He tapped his chin with the tip of his finger. Seconds later, he answered, "Once every two weeks."

"Interesting," I replied, giving him a small smile.

I noticed that there wasn't a whole lot of fish in the net, but at least we would have it for dinner. Kotaro was still carrying the net, but walked into the kitchen, and set it on top of a table.

He told us, "I need to clean off the bacteria, that way we won't get sick."

Kagura gave him a nod as he set two fishes in a bowl. He then put the bowl on some sort of rack, and pulled out a match, lighting it. But he said to himself, "Wait a minute. I can't do this until after I've cleaned up the fish."

Kagura rolled her eyes at him, and turned to me, saying, "Shina-Chan, do you want to hear a few more of my stories?"

"Sure, I don't mind," I responded. Kagura smiled once more as she landed a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't mean to brag, but I've been an expert at medicine since I was a teenager, while I was living in Chiba."

She gave me a smirk, and I could tell she was trying to brag. But I chuckled, "I'm amazed at what you and Kotaro-San do, Kagura-Chan."

Kagura bluffed while still smirking, "Aw, you're too kind~!"

Kotaro interrupted her by saying, "Oi. Don't show off."

Kagura pouted, "Why do you have to ruin everything, Zura?"

"It's not Zura. It's Katsura. And I'm not ruining your precious moment, because you really are showing off."

She crossed her arms while looking away from the black-haired man. I gave out a sigh as I thought, ignoring their argument, _Will I have to be scared everyday as I'm "living" here?_

The thought of that was crossing my mind. Since that gang…that fucking gang…apparently lives here and loves to torture people whenever they trespass their property, am I supposed to be scared until I leave this village? That is, if I can _ever_ leave this village!

Suddenly, I could hear Kagura talking to me.

"Shina-Chan."

My eyes blinked, and I lifted my head up, giving Kagura eye contact. When I looked at her in the eyes, she asked, "Would you mind getting some seasoning from the market?"

Strange. I didn't know they had a market in this village, despite how very few people live here.

But I responded, "Not at all. But…where's the market?"

"When you head out, go to the right. Walk straight until you're about to pass two houses, then turn to another right, and you'll find the market. It's small, but you'll be able to find it. Can you remember that?"

I thought about the few instructions in my head, and when I could remember them all, I nodded at Kagura before replying, "Yes."

"Alright. Now don't take too long."

"Okay, Kagura-Chan." I headed for the front door, and saw three pairs of sandals. I stared at the sandals before actually putting one pair on my feet.

I exclaimed as I opened the sliding door, "I'll be back!" With that, I walked out, now looking for the small market.

I was still a bit surprised that this village had a market. Well, it's probably better than trying to find seasoning on your own.

Anyway, as I waked passed a house, I thought, _Turn to the right after you've passed the second house._

My eyes gazed at the houses, and the walls looked so damaged, it was obvious enough that they were abandoned. They were chipped, and they almost looked as if people were trying to chop them down. I furrowed my brows as I stopped for a moment, still staring at the damaged walls.

_I feel sorry for those people who still live here._

A sad sigh escaped my lips, and I continued to walk.

A moment passed, and I realized that I found the small market. How I knew it was the market was because there was an old man, who had a few crates of seasoning.

I smiled, and quickly walked towards it. The old man blinked his small eyes as he turned his head around, noticing me.

He asked, "Hello, miss. What can I do for you today?" I actually half-expected him to ask if I was new here.

I replied, "What kind of seasonings do you have?"

"Well, we have sea-lettuce seasoning, bamboo-leaf seasoning, spicy peppered seasoning, and regular lettuce with walnuts."

I bit my lower lip, trying to decide which seasoning would be best for the fish. But I thought, _Wait a second. Kagura-Chan didn't tell me what kind of seasoning she wanted._

My teeth bit my lip a little harder. The old man chuckled, "Take your time."

_I'm amazed he doesn't look scared. Scared as in, being afraid of the Harumokiri gang running through the village._

I wasn't so sure if the Harumokiri gang would do that, but I decided to drop it for now, and say to the old man, "I'll take the sea-lettuce seasoning, please."

"Sea-lettuce, it is," He replied as he put on a glove, grabbing some of the seasoning from one crate. He also pulled out a bag, and put the seasoning in it, closing it up with a small piece of rope.

He gave the bag to me, and said, "Have a nice day."

"Thank you," I said before turning around, heading back to Kagura and Kotaro's house.

As I was walking back, I touched the bandage that was on my cheek. I thought while holding the bag of seasoning with one hand, _I'm sort of surprised he didn't ask how I got my cheek cut._

I was surprised, but at the same time, I was glad, because then I wouldn't have to explain to him how I got that cut. Same with my chest, arms, and legs, though I don't think he noticed the bandages on that part.

Just when I turned to the left, I heard a voice that was somewhat familiar.

"So someone managed to rescue you, huh?" A dark chuckle came from behind me, and a quiet gasp escaped my lips.

The voice was definitively familiar. I heard it yesterday, and although I was getting a bit scared, I turned my head around slowly.

When it was fully turned, I saw the guy who had bandages on his left eye.

My eyes widened in shock as a wicked smirk appeared on his face. And since nobody was around us, a bit of panic was starting to run through my body.

_It's Shinsuke Takasugi!_

The smirk was still on his face as he began to walk towards me. I wanted to run away from him, and get back to Kagura's and Kotaro's house, but for some reason, my feet wouldn't move.

Shinsuke asked rhetorically, "What's the matter? Are you scared?" He gave out another dark chuckle, and the closer he was, the faster my heart would beat.

There was no doubt that I was scared. I was scared, all the way to the core of my body. My shoulders started to shake as I took a few steps back. But it didn't help, because he was _really_ close to me.

He was now in front of my body, and held my chin as he said quietly, "You were able to escape death because someone saved you, is that right?"

Although I was terrified of this guy, I nodded my head as I could feel my throat clogging up. He let go of my chin, which made me have the chance to run away from him. But, I couldn't run, because I was still scared.

Before I was able to get far away from him, Shinsuke took two steps before grabbing my shoulders, and turning me around, hitting my body on the wall of the damaged house.

I gasped a bit loudly as I shut my eyes tightly. Shinsuke gripped on my shoulder as I could feel his breath touching my neck. I squinted my purple eyes, looking down to see Shinsuke burying his face in my neck.

He chuckled in a high tone, "Are you terrified of me? No, you are. I can tell."

My shoulders continued to shake as he pulled his face away from my neck. He lifted my chin up again, only this time, he used two of his fingers.

Shinsuke asked me, "What's your name?"

I asked back, "Wh-Why do you need to know?"

He glared, "Do you dare question me? Answer me now."

Since I had a bad feeling on what he would do to me, a gulp went down my throat, and I finally answered, "Sh-Shina."

He curved the corners of his lip, forming yet another smirk. Shinsuke replied, "What a pretty name. It's too bad you had to be whipped, but that was your own fault for trespassing in our area."

Without thinking, I questioned him, "Wh-Why d-did you let me get whipped by those men?"

Shinsuke chuckled as he let go of my chin, "Because I enjoy hearing people scream from pain. That's also the reason why I told them to not kill you, or rape you. They've raped a lot of women, so there was no need for them to do that to you."

Hearing this was shocking as hell. My eyes widened more as Shinsuke's face was coming closer to mine. He whispered, "You better watch out while you're walking in public."

As soon as he said that, he pulled away from me, and began to walk back to the Harumokiri gang.

When he was out of sight, I clenched my hand into my room-wear kimono. I breathed heavily while feeling drops of sweat trickle down my cheeks and forehead.

My eyes were still as wide as saucers as I thought, _That was horrifying!_

A drop of sweat dripped off my cheek, and landed on the ground. I ignored the sweat as my heart thumped in my ribcage.

Soon, my eyes were squinted, and I bit my lower lip as I crouched down, covering my eyes with my hand. I still held the bag of seasoning in one of my hands, but I had to put it down for a second, because I was still crying. Both of my hands covered my eyes as tears poured out. Some of the tears trailed down on the bandage on my right cheek, but I ignored that.

_I'm scared…I'm scared…_

Those words were repeated in my head, over and over again. I wanted to not be scared, but how could I?

After crying for a few moments, I finally calmed down, and stood up, grabbing the bag of seasoning again. I took a deep breath, and headed back to the house.

My tears dried up on my face, but I felt my eyes still burning slightly. I rubbed my right eye with my palm, and finally came back to the house.

As soon as I entered the house, I said, "I'm back."

Kagura walked up to me, and just gave me a smile.

I asked, "Did I take too long?"

Hoping that she wouldn't get angry at me for this, she responded, "You did take a bit long, but I'll let it slide. And I realized that I never told you what kind of seasoning we wanted. I apologize for that, Shina-Chan, but what kind of seasoning did you get, anyway?"

I lifted the bag up, and answered, "Sea-lettuce seasoning."

"Oh, that's perfect! I'll be taking that!" Kagura took the bag from my hand, and I was happy she didn't notice that I was crying earlier. I didn't think now would be a good time to tell her and Kotaro that I saw Shinsuke a few minutes ago.

So I kept my mouth shut.

Kagura and Kotaro were both in the kitchen, cleaning the fish up. Kagura told me, "You can sit down if you'd like."

My mouth parted, but I didn't say anything, and sat down, next to the table. I set my legs to the left side of my body as I rested my elbows on the wooden table.

While Kotaro and Kagura were busy in the kitchen, I looked around the room, and noticed that these two were _very_ organized. Lots of papers were stacked neatly (Just like the room where it was mostly doctor's stuff), and even the accessories were organized on a shelf. They had so many accessories, I couldn't name them all.

Kagura suddenly called me, "Shina-Chan! Sorry if I'm bothering you, but can you help me with something real quick? Our hands are full!"

Blinking, I stood up from the floor, and quickly walked to the kitchen. I saw the salmon-haired girl, and asked, "Yes?"

"Can you cut the tail off of this fish?"

When I looked at the knife (And fish tail), my eyes widened. I stared at the knife as my lips started to tremble.

Kagura raised a red brow at me, and asked, "Is something wrong, Shina-Chan?"

I gave her a cracked smile, and explained as I awkwardly scratched the back of my head, "N-Nothing's wrong, K-Kagura-Chan. It's just…I have aichmophobia."

There, both of them stopped at what they were doing. Kagura asked again, "What's aichmophobia?"

_I knew she would ask this._

I responded as I fidgeted my fingers, "It's a fear for sharp objects. And I'm extremely terrified of knives. Not very many people know what it actually is, so I'm not surprised you asked."

As I was still feeling really awkward about this, Kagura gave out a chuckle, and replied as she patted me on the arm, "It's okay, I understand. Tell you what, how about you at least try to pull the tail off?"

I smiled, "Yes." I walked over to the fish, and grabbed the middle of it as I used my other hand to grab the small tail.

My head turned so that I could see Kagura. She gave me a brief nod. I turned back to the fish, and began to pull the tail off. At first, it was hard, but seconds later, the tail was beginning to come off. I was getting the hang of this pretty quickly, so I was able to pull the tail off without any problem whatsoever.

Kagura took the fish away, and said, "Thank you for pulling the tail off, Shina-Chan."

"You're welcome," I replied as she started chopping the fish apart.

But when I was seeing this, a sudden picture came into my head.

The picture in my head was those Harumokiri gang members, and one of them held a dagger as the others were holding a woman down. Then, without warning the woman, the guy who was holding the dagger quickly stabbed her in the stomach. She screamed, but the guy continued to stab her from her chest, down to her stomach again, where it was just above her bellybutton. He stabbed her deeply, and did it multiple times until the woman stopped screaming. Her eyes had no highlight in them. Blood dripped from the corner of her lip. She was dead, and the guys just smirked at the dead body. Their dark glares were so terrifying; it was just like a nightmare.

Thankfully, it was a nightmare. Well, I was sort of daydreaming.

I gasped loudly, and covered my mouth with my hand. Kagura and Kotaro raised brows at me, but then looked worried. Kotaro asked, "Are you alright, Shina-Chan?"

I didn't want them to worry too much about me, so I answered, "I-I'm fine. I…I think I should get some water."

"The water's in the bucket outside."

"Thanks."

I dashed out of the house, but saw the bucket a foot beside the door. I half-smiled at the bucket, and knelt down, grabbing the edges of the bucket before sticking my head in it. I was crazy for doing that, I'll admit it, but I was feeling horrified by that thought I was just thinking.

After a few seconds, I gulped some of the fresh water down my throat, and pulled my head out of the bucket, gasping for air. Water dripped from my dark-blue hair, and some of the water came on my room-wear kimono. I breathed a bit heavily as I still held onto the top of the bucket.

I was still thirsty, so I almost put my head in the water again, only I sucked some of the water from the wooden bucket.

A couple of gulps went down my throat before I decided, "Okay, I think I had enough to drink for now."

Standing up, I went back into the house. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I decided to go to the room I slept in.

Kagura and Kotaro didn't see me, but I knew they noticed me coming back into their home. While the two of them were cutting up the fish, I entered my room, and saw that I never put my futon away.

I blinked my eyes, and walked over to my futon, folding it. I picked it up, and went to the closet, where I opened it, and put the futon away.

After closing the closet door, I chose to sit on the floor, in the middle of the room. I sat down, and lifted my knees up, where I rested my arms on them.

A thought came to my mind, _Why did that horrible picture come to my mind?_

My eyelids lowered down to the point where my eyes were nearly closed. I rested my forehead on my arms as I whispered to no one in particular, "Should I tell Kagura-Chan and Kotaro-San about me seeing Shinsuke?"

I didn't want to scare them, but if I were to keep it a secret from them, then my heart will ache. I'll regret it, whether I tell them or not.

What am I going to do?

**-3****rd**** POV-**

Shinsuke Takasugi came back to the Harumokiri area, where he saw them torturing a young woman with long blonde hair and neon green-colored eyes. The woman had very little clothing on, since the men ripped it off of her body.

What they were doing to her now was painful. They threw big rocks at her body, which caused her to bite her lower lip, in order for her to not scream in pain. But the harder she bit her lip, the more blood that was drawn.

Shinsuke just smirked, and told them, "Don't kill that woman."

Some of the Harumokiri members stopped at what they were doing, and turned around to see him. One of them asked, "Eh? First that bitch who was saved by some other bitch, now this! This sucks! I want to kill this trespasser! Man, these bitches never learn, do they?!"

The woman was able to scream out, "HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE WAS?!"

"SHUT UP, YOU WHORE!" Another gang member shouted right before kicking her straight in the face with his foot.

She screamed in pain again, only this time, it was also full of anguish. She covered her face with her hands, and lied on the ground by her back. She thought, _How would I be able to tell that this area belonged to them?! It just doesn't make any sense!_

Shinsuke snickered, "I think you men need a break from killing people, including women. After all, women make the best screams…when they're in pain." A smirk appeared on Shinsuke's face, and he walked away from them.

But he added, "As I've said, don't kill her. I want her to scream from the pain she's getting. She'll learn her lesson for trespassing here after you've tortured her."

Shinsuke didn't remember how many people he and the Harumokiri gang have killed, but he didn't need to count. He liked seeing blood come out of people's bodies, and he also liked hearing the pain of ultimate suffering.

When he entered the golden-colored building, which was a few yards from the actual area, he saw his friend. And it was actually his friend, because they met in their late teens, when they were both nearly adults.

His friend had spiky teal hair, with small, light-green eyes. He wore a dark-green loose kimono with black narrow straps.

His friends' name was Bansai Kawakami.

The man asked him, "Shinsuke, did another woman trespass here? I heard screaming."

Shinsuke chuckled in a high tone, "Not surprisingly, yes. Maybe we should put a sign up, saying that this is private property. But…I like hearing screams of pain, so I'm not doing that for now."

"But don't you think you're going too far? I mean, I like seeing blood as well, but I think you should at least let people know that villagers aren't allowed here, I daresay."

"Bansai, are you growing a soft spot in your soul?"

"No. Why do you ask that?"

"Because you have a lover in Yoshikawa, and I know you love her deeply, since you tend to visit her once in a while." Another smirk came on Shinsuke's face as he stared into the taller man's eyes.

Bansai widened his small eyes when he heard those words come out of Shinsuke's mouth. Shinsuke knew Bansai had a lover in the Saitama Prefecture, but this was the last thing Bansai expected him to say.

Bansai knitted his teal brows as he questioned, "What does my lover have anything to do with this?"

"Bansai…" Shinsuke began to speak. "…you would _never_ let the woman you love get hurt, which is why I'm bringing this up."

"Don't bring up my lover into any situation like this. _Ever_."

Bansai glared at the one-eyed man, but the glare didn't bother him one bit. Rather, he continued to smirk. He stared at him for a few seconds before Bansai turned around, heading to his room. Since the building itself was big, their rooms were far away from each other.

As soon as Bansai was out of sight, Shinsuke gave out a chuckle for the umpteenth time, and thought, _Bansai, Bansai, Bansai. You really have a warm spot in your heart; don't deny it._

Shinsuke started to walk back to his room, but also thought while setting his arms on the inside of his kimono, _And as for Shina…heh, she should be scared of me. I like seeing her terrified expression._

The picture of Shina's horrifying expression made Shinsuke grin. This was not going to be the last time he would see her.

Meanwhile, the gang members were still torturing the blonde-haired woman. But now, one gang member grabbed her long hair, pulling her up off the ground. She screamed, not bothering to bite her lower lip anymore. The pain was too much, and she couldn't take it.

She shouted, "L-LET G-GO OF MY HAIR!"

The gang members just laughed, which made the woman feel worse. Hot tears trailed down her bruised face as the grip on her hair was tighter. Her body began to tremble as another member ripped off the rest of her kimono. She was naked, completely, but she was crying too much to even notice it. Even if she did realize that she wasn't wearing anything anymore, she couldn't put her kimono back on, because it was shredded into a million pieces.

One of the members held his sword, and made the tip of it lift the woman's chin up, without cutting her. He muttered darkly, "You think we're dumb enough to do that? We're not like those stupid, retarded innocent villagers. We're the Harumokiri gang, and you can't do a fucking thing to stop us. Do you understand?"

Before he could let the woman respond, he pulled the tip of his sword away from her chin, and kicked her hard on the chin. She yelled, "GAUGH!" She fell back, landing on the ground again. Her hair was covered in dirt, and her body was starting to bleed, due to the big rocks that were already thrown at her.

She didn't want to touch or see her own blood, because it had frightened her. It frightened her to the point where she didn't want to look at anything or anyone that was around her.

The gang members picked her up by the arms, and one of them pulled her hair, making her head lean back. She shut her neon green eyes tightly, and once again screamed.

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Another member swung his sword, cutting her stomach. It wasn't a deep cut, so she wasn't seriously wounded. But that wasn't helping her, since the members continued to hurt her.

As some blood trailed down her naked stomach, the guy, who had cut her, punched her in the stomach. She snapped her eyes wide open, and coughed out saliva.

The guy ordered the others, "Drop her." They did so. As soon as they let go of her arms, she fell to the floor, holding her stomach that was in excruciating pain.

Her body shook as the gang members started to walk away. One asked another, "Do you think she'll be saved as well? Shouldn't we just kill her?"

"You heard what Takasugi-Sama said. He ordered us not to kill her, just like that short-haired bitch from yesterday. But even if she does get rescued, the thoughts of us torturing her will haunt her."

He chuckled in a dark tone, and the gang went to the other side of the building.

**-Shina's POV-**

I heard screaming not too long ago. My brows furrowed as I thought, _That's just like the screaming I did._

Kagura said to me, "Another woman is in the Harumokiri area."

I turned to look at her, and even though I was already starting to believe her, I asked anyway, "H-How do you know, Kagura-Chan?"

"That scream is the scream of pain. Pain as in, being tortured. And that scream isn't far away."

Kotaro narrowed his eyes as he set the fish on the table. He agreed, "I can tell too. Those bastards are hurting another person."

I asked again, but without a second thought, "A-Are you going to save her, just like h-how you saved me?"

Kagura stared at me as if I was crazy. My cheeks flushed slightly, but Kagura answered, "Why would we let a woman suffer from the pain she's getting? Of course we're going to rescue her! But in order for us to do that without getting caught by those assholes, we'll have to wait until dark. I hated myself for waiting that long when I rescued you, but it was the only way to do it without getting noticed."

I narrowed my eyes as I replied, "I understand. Can you see clearly in the dark, Kagura-Chan?"

She nodded, "I sure can."

"Can I come with you to rescue the woman who's being tortured right now?"

Kagura widened her blue eyes at me. Kotaro widened his eyes as well, only his mouth parted slightly.

Kagura sighed, "Are you sure? I don't want you being horrified while we rescue her."

I nodded back, "I'm sure. I'll just hide in the bushes while you get the woman."

"Alright them," She smiled a little. "Remember, as much as I want to rescue her now, we need to wait until its dark out."

"Gotcha."

Hours have passed. Before Kagura, Kotaro and I were going to eat dinner, we were going to rescue somebody. Well, Kotaro was going to stay at the house.

As Kagura and I were ready to get moving, Kotaro told us, "Be careful. Don't get caught."

Kagura turned her head around before replying to the man, "We won't, Zura."

"It's not Zura. It's Katsura."

Kagura ignored him, and pulled my arm. We put on our sandals, and we both left the house. As soon as Kagura closed the door behind her, she motioned me to follow her without saying a word. I gave her a nod as a gulp went down my throat. I followed the girl.

We ran through the streets, finding the bad place. The thoughts of the night before flashed through my mind. A drop of sweat trickled down my cheek as I knitted my brows.

_I can't stand innocent people getting tortured!_

Why would some people torture others? What did they do to deserve it?

Soon, Kagura and I were very close to the bad place. Kagura lifted a finger up, pressing it to her lips, as to signaling me to stay quiet. I was silent.

She pulled her finger away, and we tip-toed to the bushes. Kagura turned to look at me, and whispered, "Wait here."

My head nodded briefly before Kagura walked through the bushes, going down the small hill. She quickly ran through the area quietly, without getting noticed by any of the gang members. I didn't see any of them, but I was still terrified that they could come out any second.

At first, I didn't see anyone, but as I gazed around the area, where I peeked from the bushes, I noticed a figure lying on the ground.

When I squinted my eyes, I found out that…it was an injured woman. My eyes widened as more sweat trailed down my cheeks.

Despite how dark it was, I could see clearly that this woman was bleeding. I saw that she had long, blonde-hair.

Kagura looked around to see if there were any gang members coming her way. There wasn't. She sighed with relief, and gently picked up the woman from the ground. She then ran back to the hill.

As Kagura was getting close to the small hill, she sort of crouched down, and jumped up. She was about a foot off the ground, and landed in the bush, dashing through them. She didn't say anything, but it was obvious she wanted me to follow her back to the house, so I did.

While I was running behind her, I heard the woman whimper, "A-Are you…rescuing me?"

Kagura shushed her, "Shhh, don't say anything. We're going to help you."

The woman Kagura was carrying was naked. I lowered my brows, and thought, _Shinsuke Takasugi…did you let those bastards torture her as well?_

I remembered Shinsuke telling me, _"You were able to escape death because someone saved you, is that right?"_

This place…really is scary.

* * *

**The blonde-haired woman's name will be revealed in the next chapter. Until then, I'll let you guess what her name will be. XD As for Bansai's lover, well, she won't appear for a couple of chapters. By the way, as I've mentioned at the top notes, I'll be letting you know where the other characters live (At least for this story) as I write this. So far, I've just mentioned where Kagura and Kotaro lived. Chiba is obviously in the Chiba Prefecture, while Matsubushi is in the Saitama Prefecture. And yes, I looked on Wikipedia, as to when they were created/founded. It took forever for me to decide where the other characters would live (Believe me, it was also frustrating. XP).**

**Poor Shina is terrified of Shinsuke. What is she going to do?**

**Well, hope you enjoyed chapter 2! :)**


	3. Shed tears with sorrow

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Kagura and I ran back to the house, panting in exhaustion. Kagura held a wounded woman, with shoulder-length blonde hair. I looked at her eyes, and noticed that they were green, but also neon.

Her eyes were unusual. I've never seen a person with neon-colored eyes. Then again, my eyes are purple, and my eye-color isn't very common, so I shouldn't really question about the woman's eyes.

As soon as we entered the house again, Kotaro stared at us, clenching his fists while biting his lower lip.

He asked, "Did she…get tortured at that area too?"

Kagura and I nodded our heads. Kagura responded while still holding the woman, "Sadly, yes. But she's still conscious."

Just then, the woman whimpered as tears were starting to trail down her bloody cheeks, "P-Please h-help me…s-somebody help m-me…"

I blinked my eyes, staring at her expression.

Kagura shushed her as she nearly closed her eyes, "Shhh, don't worry. We're helping you." She turned to see me, and asked, "Shina-Chan, do you think we should put her in the same room you're sleeping in?"

It only took a few seconds of thought before I nodded my head. "I think it's best if she sleeps there."

I just remembered that I have another phobia, which is nyctophobia, or fear of the dark.

Kotaro turned his head to the side to prevent himself from looking at the naked woman. His cheeks flushed as he murmured, "Take her to the room."

Kagura nodded, and dashed to the room I slept in. I decided to ask Kotaro, "Are you embarrassed by seeing a naked girl?"

"How can I not be embarrassed?" Kotaro asked back, but rhetorically. "First, Kagura-Chan brought you here, naked and whipped, now this blonde woman, who's naked and wounded."

My eyes narrowed. "Kotaro-San…you do know the reason for that was because the Harumokiri gang ripped up my clothes. And I'm pretty sure they ripped up her clothes as well."

"Of course I know that, Shina-Chan," He replied as he started to look at me. "But it's still awkward for me to look at a woman, who has little to no clothing on."

"I understand."

"I should start making dinner, now that you rescued this woman."

"Right."

With that, Kotaro turned his body around, and began to cook the fish. I chose to run to the room, and when I opened up the bedroom door, I saw Kagura taking out the futon.

Kagura, without looking at me, said, "It's a good thing we have more than one futon in the closet."

I chewed on my lower lip while narrowing my eyes once again. Then, I told her, "Kagura-Chan…there's something I want to tell you."

As Kagura placed the futon on the floor, where the woman was lying down, she replied in question, "What is it?"

"You know how I told you that I have aichmophobia?"

"Yeah…" She trailed off, but looked suspicious.

I sighed, "Well, I also have nyctophobia, which is a fear of the dark. Again, not very many people know the name of it."

When she straightened the futon up, she asked me as she gently picked up the woman, "Nyctophobia?" I nodded my head. She added, "Isn't everybody afraid of the dark?"

"Actually, my case of it is kind of severe. So when I'm alone in the dark, I get so scared, that my heart beats at a great amount of speed. I've been suffering through this since I was a little girl. I'm too scared to be in the dark alone, unless I'm with somebody."

"I see." Kagura put the woman under the blanket, but stood up, running to the closet once again. She took out another room-wear kimono, which was the same color as ours. Kagura then knelt beside the futon, where she held the woman's upper body up, and began to put the room-wear kimono on her.

The blonde-haired woman barely opened her eyes, and whimpered like before, "E-Erima…is that y-you?"

That's when my eyes widened. Kagura widened her eyes as well, but she sighed, "Miss, please don't speak. It's better if you had some rest."

The woman lowered her eyelids, but whispered, "Erima-Chan…please come back…"

Kagura landed her index finger on her lips, and shushed her almost silently. The woman cried once more as her eyelids were completely closed.

But I said, "Kagura-Chan, I want to know her name."

Although Kagura already shushed the wounded woman, she allowed me to ask the blonde, "Miss, what's your name?"

Her eyes were already closed, but she whispered her name, "Chizu."

After she mentioned her name, she didn't say anything else. She drifted off to sleep, breathing a little heavily. She didn't move a muscle, and Kagura finished putting the kimono on her. She set her down carefully, and pulled the blanket over her body.

Kagura stood up from the floor, and told me, "Shina-Chan, let's leave her alone for now. And I may not know who this Erima person is, but maybe we can ask her about that tomorrow, when she wakes up."

"Yes, we should," I agreed as the salmon-haired girl began to walk out of the room. I looked down at the woman, named Chizu, and bit my lower lip again.

_Erima…is she a close friend of this woman?_

I shook my head, deciding to drop it until morning. I turned around, and walked out of the room as well.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, I just stood there, not moving.

My back landed on the door as I thought, _At least this woman isn't whipped, like me. Otherwise it would've reminded me of my body getting whipped multiple times._

The picture of my naked body getting whipped numerous times made me feel a bit of water in my eyes. My dark-blue brows furrowed as a tear trailed down my cheek.

I wiped my eyes with my fists as I thought once again, _No, I don't want to cry right now._

But even if I wanted to stop crying, another picture came into my head. This time, it was when Shinsuke was dangerously close to me.

"_Because I enjoy hearing people scream in pain."_

The words Shinsuke said to me echoed in my head. I covered my ears, shutting my eyes tightly as I was trying to get that echo out. But it didn't work. I crouched down while biting my lower lip, though I wasn't aware that I bit it a bit hard. I ignored it, anyway, and felt more tears pouring out of my eyes.

The echoes in my brain were getting louder. And the louder they got, the more tears that would pour out.

Drips of tears fell on my room-wear kimono as my whole body began to shake. I buried my face into the kimono, but seconds later, I felt a hand softly touch my back.

A gasp escaped my thin lips, and I lifted my head up, seeing the person that was touching my back.

It was only Kagura.

She furrowed her brows as she asked, "Are you sure you're alright, Shina-Chan?"

As my vision was getting to be a little blurry, my mouth agape. I wondered as to whether or not to tell Kagura about earlier.

But I decided, _No. Maybe I can tell her in a few days._

I forced myself to smile, and answered her question as I began to stand up, "I'm fine, Kagura-Chan. Really."

Part of me wanted to tell her the truth now, but another part of me was too afraid. My heart began to speed up, but Kagura gave me a warm smile, and replied, "Well, dinner's ready."

I gave her a nod before she walked away from me. I walked also, but slower.

My eyes narrowed at the floor, and felt something warm on my bottom lip. I blinked once, and touched my lip with two fingers. As soon as I pulled my fingers in front of me, I found out that I bit my lip too hard.

_My bottom lip is bleeding. Dammit. I shouldn't have bitten my lip too hard. Oh well, maybe the bleeding will stop eventually._

Just as another sigh escaped my lips, I entered the dining room, where dinner was served. There was fish, rice, and some sushi.

Kotaro and Kagura were the first ones to sit down. Kotaro sat in a crisscross while Kagura sat with her legs beside her.

I sat down beside Kagura, where I had my legs to the side. The three of us began to take some fish, plus rice. I grabbed the chopsticks, and started to eat the rice.

While we were all eating our dinner, it was silent. None of us said a word, and none of us were smiling. The atmosphere in the dining room was starting to get a little heavy.

Kagura was the first person to speak up, "I think we should give the wounded woman some medicine."

"What kind of medicine, though?" Kotaro asked her.

"We'll give her a little bit of Murimaki."

I raised a brow at her, and asked, "What's Murimaki?"

Kagura turned her head to look at me, and answered, "It's medicine that can help people stop crying, and fall into a deep sleep. We actually made the name up. Same with all the other medicine we have in this house."

"Should you go get it now, and give it to that woman?"

"Perhaps it's best if I do that," Kagura chuckled as she stopped eating. She stood up, and walked towards the medicine room. Without thinking, I stopped eating as well, and quickly stood up, following Kagura.

Kagura noticed that I was following her, but she didn't seem bothered by it, so she gave me a half-smile, and allowed me to follow.

We both entered the medicine room, and Kagura looked around to find the medicine she was looking for.

She told me, "Shina-Chan, there will be a label on a small bottle that says 'Murimaki'. So if you find it, let me know."

"Okay," I replied as we began searching for it. The room was a bit dark, so it was kind of hard to look for the right medicine.

Kagura searched in one area of the room while I searched in another.

_I find it kind of strange that they're giving the woman medicine, and yet they didn't give me medicine when they found me. Oh well._

Perhaps the reason why Kagura's giving the wounded woman medicine is because she was having a meltdown. Chizu wanted someone named Erima back, and she was crying. Did her close friend die or something? Well, like Kagura said, we were going to ask her some questions tomorrow morning. After all, Kagura and Kotaro asked me some questions when they brought me here yesterday.

Although I came here the day before, time suddenly felt slow. I didn't know that would be possible for time to actually feel slow. It was weird.

Kagura was able to fine the Murimaki medicine. She said, "I got it." Kagura quickly walked out of the room. I, once again, followed her, and closed the door behind me.

The salmon-haired girl told Kotaro, "Zura, I'm going to give the woman this medicine. I'll be right back."

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura," He corrected her.

Kagura ignored him, and went into the room Chizu was sleeping in. As soon as the room door was opened, Kagura slowly walked towards Chizu, who was still breathing heavily.

Chizu whispered weakly, "Help me…Erima-Chan, please…help me…are you there? Oh, please be there…"

She still thought one of us was this Erima person. Kagura sighed in frustration while slightly knitting her brows. Kagura said to me quietly, "She still thinks we're Erima. I'm getting a little irritated now."

"Erima-Chan…Erima-Chan…I want you back! Please…come back! Come back!" Chizu was beginning to raise her voice, which caused our eyes to widen.

Kagura knelt beside the futon, and wrapped an arm around the back of Chizu's shoulders. Chizu gasped, and tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't for some reason. I walked over to the duo, and knelt as well, looking at Chizu's eyes. Her eyelids were only a few millimeters up, but it was opened enough for me to see her eye-color.

Kagura stared into her eyes as well, and Chizu shouted, "COME BACK, ERIMA-CHAN! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE?!"

That's when shock filled my eyes. So it was true. This Erima really did die. But the question was…how? How did she die? How close were these two together? Were they so close, that they were like sisters?

Chizu sobbed, having uncontrollable tears flow on her cheeks. Kagura sighed once more, but with sympathy. She furrowed her brows as she used her other hand to take the cork off of the small glass bottle. She then held onto the bottle, and placed the tip of it on her lips. Chizu shut her eyes tightly, tasting the medicine that was coming into her mouth.

Kagura pulled the tip away from the blonde's lip, but Chizu was trying to spit it out. Kagura obviously wouldn't allow that, so she pushed her chin up, forcing her mouth to close.

Kagura told me with a grunt, "Shina-Chan! Help me hold her down, so that she doesn't hit me!"

My eyes widened as I gave her a nod. I very quickly went to the other side of the futon, and pushed Chizu's arms down. She struggled so hard to get the medicine out of her mouth, but she had no luck.

If she didn't take the medicine, she wouldn't stop crying or actually fall asleep. Kagura wanted her to calm down.

As if Chizu had no choice, I heard her gulp the medicine down her throat, and Kagura finally let go of her chin as Chizu gave out a loud cough. A trail of the medicine, which was dark-colored, trailed down the corner of her lip. Her body shook while her eyes were still closed.

She continued to cry, but eventually, she breathed quietly, and fell into a deep sleep.

I stared at her in slight surprise, and asked Kagura in a whisper, "She really refused to drink the medicine, huh?"

Kagura replied, "From the looks of it, she might've been traumatized from what happened to her…friend."

"Do you believe she died a horrible death, though?"

"I'm not sure. But as I've said, we're going to ask her when she wakes up tomorrow morning."

"Right," I murmured, feeling extreme sympathy for Chizu. I let go of her arms, and Kagura and I stood up.

Since Chizu's arms were spread out, I pushed them down, beside her hips. I then pulled the blanket over her body, letting her sleep.

Kagura held my arm, and said, "Now we'll leave her alone until morning."

My head nodded, and we both left the room.

Kagura asked me as we were heading back to the dining room, "Shina-Chan…do you want to sleep in the same room as me tonight?"

"Eh?" I questioned before realizing what she actually asked. I hesitated for a bit, but then responded, "That'll be fine. Do you want the woman to be alone for now?"

She nodded in reply.

I smiled weakly, and said, "I feel so bad for her…and myself."

"I feel sympathy for _both_ of you. I hate this village so much, I can't stand it. I just want to leave this village so badly, but I can't…because of the doctors that need us…"

I could hear Kagura sob. I raised my brows as I stared at the back of her head. Kagura lifted up her fist, covering her eyes. She sobbed harder, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek.

Furrowing my brows, I took two steps forward before wrapping my arms around Kagura's waist behind her. She gave out a gasp, clearly not expecting me to do this. She didn't do anything while I was hugging her, though. I wanted to give her a hug, because she and Kotaro really wanted to leave the Senkurojima village, but no matter how much they wished for it, they can't. Kagura mentioned that the doctors in this village need them, because they're good at helping people.

It didn't make much sense to me, but I decided to not say anything right now.

Kagura didn't try to push me away, in fact, she quickly turned her whole body around, and gave me a tight hug. She hugged me so tight, as if I was about to fall into a big hole.

Kagura cried by my ear, and exclaimed, "It's not fair! Just because Katsura and I are good at helping people, doesn't mean we should be forced to live here! Why does life have to be so hard?! Why?!"

I landed my hands on her back, and shushed her by saying, "Shhh…it's alright, Kagura-Chan. You're probably not the only one who wants to leave this village."

"Are you desperate to leave this village too, Shina-Chan? No, you don't have to answer. Of course you do. You want to leave so badly, but we don't want you leaving on your own. We don't want you to get hurt again. Until the doctors let us leave, we'll make sure you don't get harmed by those Harumokiri bastards again."

"Thank you, Kagura-Chan…" I trailed off as I closed my eyes.

Kagura ran a hand through my short, dark-blue hair as she whispered, "We want you to know that you have two people by your side."

"Yes…I know that." Now tears were coming out of my eyes again. But I didn't care, not one bit.

My chin rested on her shoulder as we continued to hug.

**-3****rd**** POV-**

Chizu was sleeping deeply in a very comfortable futon. She was forced to have some medicine Kagura gave her, but she was finally able to sleep without any more problems.

But just because she was sleeping soundly, doesn't mean she didn't feel sad.

She had a dream, where she was with another girl. And this girl was more than just a close friend.

_(Chizu's Dream/Flashback)_

_Over two and a half years ago, she lived in her hometown, named Sagamihara, where it was in the Kanagawa Prefecture. She had lived there her whole life, before she came into the Senkurojima village._

_She lived with another woman, but there was a secret they both had to keep, in order for them to not get killed._

_On a dark, cold night, the two women were in their futon, kissing each other's lips softly. Chizu lied on the futon as the other woman kissed her neck._

_The other woman had short, messy black hair with gray eyes. Her name was Erima. _

_Chizu had short hair back then. Chizu gave out a whimper as Erima continued to kiss her neck. Then, she licked her neck, which made Chizu moan quietly. _

_In her hometown (And possibly other places), it was forbidden to love another person with the same gender, which meant that if people were to find out that Chizu's love was another woman, they would be in grave danger. But as long as they kept it a secret, they wouldn't have to worry, though it worried Chizu a lot. _

_Erima touched her soft skin with the tips of her fingers, and began to slide them down her stomach. Both women were naked, and since this was the first time Chizu was going to have sex with anyone, she was nervous. She was so nervous, that she couldn't stop her heart from beating so fast. _

_It was Erima's first time too, but she wasn't as nervous as Chizu. Chizu asked hesitantly, "E-Erima-Chan…a-are you sure we should be doing this? I-I'm scared that someone will find out about our relationship!"_

_Erima stopped at what she was doing, and looked up to see Chizu's neon-green eyes. Erima gave her a warm smile as she replied, "Chizu-Chan, I know our love is forbidden in this village, but we can't help loving each other. The only thing we can tell people is that we're living together as friends. Do you understand?"_

_She was still smiling at her. Chizu narrowed her eyes before answering her lovers' question, "Y-Yes. I understand, but I'm still worried."_

"_As I said, we'll try to keep this as secret as possible."_

_Without warning, she placed her lips on Chizu's. Chizu widened her eyes, feeling a full-force blush on her cheeks. She soon closed her eyes, and ruffled her hand through Erima's black hair. Erima resumed at what she was doing, and in a matter of seconds, she felt Chizu's private area._

_When their lips disconnected, Chizu gasped quietly with a moan. She leaned her head back as Erima began to feel the folds of her entrance. _

_Chizu clenched her teeth to keep herself from moaning again, but Erima gave out a giggle, and kissed her cheek. Then, without saying anything, she gently pushed her fingers inside of the blonde-haired woman. Chizu snapped her eyes open, and gave out a whimper in response. _

_Erima lied on top of Chizu, and Chizu dug her nails into the sides of her arms. As Erima thrust her fingers inside Chizu's womanhood, she grinned, and kissed her on the lips. _

_She pushed her fingers in and out faster, trying to make Chizu moan. As soon as their lips drifted, Chizu finally moaned as her cheeks flushed. Erima went slower, but didn't stop._

_Chizu blinked, and decided to ask, "Erima-Chan…would this count as losing my virginity?"_

_Erima looked into her eyes while responding, "To be quite frank, Chizu-Chan…I'm not sure. But it doesn't matter, as long as we have each other."_

_The blonde smiled slightly, and leaned up, kissing her on the lips again._

_(End of Dream/Flashback)_

As soon as her memory was finished in her head, Chizu shed tears. The tears trailed down her cheeks, and Chizu couldn't help but feel remorse in her heart.

_I couldn't save you, Erima-Chan…I'm so sorry…please forgive me…please…forgive me…_

She kept on apologizing to her deceased lover in her thoughts. Chizu couldn't move her body, because that medicine Kagura and Shina gave her made her numb. She wanted to scream out her lovers' name, but she was too tired to do so. Instead, she could only think of her name.

_Erima-Chan…Erima-Chan…Erima-Chan…_

Meanwhile, in the Harumokiri area, everyone went to sleep. Well, there was actually a small building behind the golden-colored building. The smaller building was the place where the Harumokiri gang sleeps. The golden-colored building belonged to just Shinsuke Takasugi and Bansai Kawakami.

Shinsuke would allow some of the gang members to come inside the building, as long as they didn't disturb him for any reason, or destroy anything. Otherwise Shinsuke would kill them without hesitation, and he's done that before.

While Bansai was sleeping, Shinsuke was in his own room, awake. He sat on the floor, crisscrossed, and set a piece of paper on the floor.

A few candles were lit, and they were in small paper boxes, colored with red. Shinsuke liked the color of it, because it reminded him of blood. The candles were at each corner of his room.

Shinsuke set a small jar of black paint on the floor, and grabbed his big brush, dipping it into the black paint. As soon as he pulled it out, he began to write on the paper.

What he wrote was the name of the girl he attempted to scare earlier.

He thought to himself as a wicked smirk appeared on his face, _Shina…_

When he was done writing her name, he set the brush down, and lifted the paper in front of his face. He stared at the name, and continued to smirk as he thought once again, _She's my next target._

Shina wasn't the first girl Shinsuke scared. In fact, he's scared other girls since his early twenties. And he didn't _just_ scare them. He did much worse things to the girls that he terrified. For most people, he was a monster. A monster that was just roaming in Shinsuke's body, waiting to be released. It wanted to be released so badly, but it could never happen.

Shinsuke chuckled in a high tone as he stood up, walking over to the tall desk behind him. He placed the paper on the desk, beside two other pieces of paper, also written in black paint.

The two other pieces of paper were written out, "Hiragi" and "Kisaki". Shinsuke smirked at the papers, and thought, _Those other two were so stupid. I wonder how I'll handle with Shina-Chan._

The smirk played on Shinsuke's face. He only stared at the "Shina" paper, and began to chuckle in a dark tone. Before he was going to "deal" with Shina, he wanted to see her a few times just to see how scared she was of him.

**-Shina's POV-**

Morning had come. I slept in Kagura's room, because she wanted Chizu to be alone.

We both woke up, and stretched our arms as a yawn escaped my mouth.

Kagura asked me as she was about to leave her room, "Shina-Chan…are you ready to ask the woman a few questions now?"

I nodded my head, answering, "Yes."

Kagura turned her head around, and opened up the door, walking out. I followed her along, and left the room as well.

I closed the door behind me, and we headed for the other room. I wasn't so sure if Kotaro was up yet, since I didn't see or hear him in the house.

The two of us were soon at the door to the other room, and Kagura opened up the sliding door. There, we saw Chizu leaning up, with her head down. I also saw a few drops of water on her wrists, so that must've meant that she was crying all night, even though we gave her some medicine.

Although Chizu didn't look at us, she asked, "Why did you rescue me?"

Kagura gave out a sigh, and answered as we both knelt down, "Because we can't stand people getting tortured."

"How did you know I was getting tortured, though?"

Was she trying to pretend she wasn't tortured yesterday? If she was, it wasn't working.

The female sighed yet again, "Miss, it's obvious enough because we found you in the Harumokiri area. We saw you lying there, as if you were dead. We also noticed that you've been bruised up. I'm going to guess that those gang members threw rocks at you, right?"

Chizu didn't answer. She still had her face down, not bothering to look at either of us in the eyes.

Kagura knitted her brows, and it looked like she was getting frustrated. She reached her hand out, grabbing onto the loose kimono Chizu was wearing. She pulled the blonde closer to her, and exclaimed, "You're going to have to answer me! Did they throw rocks at you?!"

My purple eyes widened, and I tried to calm Kagura down by telling her, "Kagura-Chan! Don't be too harsh on her!"

She clenched her teeth when Chizu still didn't answer her question. Chizu whispered weakly, "What's there to know? Would you even care?"

Right after she asked that, Kagura widened her eyes with anger, and slapped her in the face with her other hand. I stared at her with shock, and covered my mouth with both my hands.

Kagura shouted in front of her face, "HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! OF COURSE I WOULD CARE! I'VE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR NINE YEARS, AND EVERY SINGLE DAY, IT FEELS LIKE I'M IN HELL! I ALSO SAVED SHINA-CHAN, FROM DYING OF HYPOTHERMIA, THE NIGHT BEFORE! DOES THAT SOUND LIKE I DON'T CARE?!"

Chizu decided to give her eye contact, but her mouth parted as she stared at her. Chizu then squinted her eyes, and bit her lower lip, crying.

Tears went down her face as she finally answered her previous question, "Th-They did throw rocks at me. I-I came from Sagamihara, so I had no idea that area belonged to that gang. How the fuck was I supposed to know?! Did they think I was some sort of psychic person?!"

Kagura let go of her, and calmed down by replying, "So you didn't know, either."

"Either?" She repeated, but didn't understand what Kagura was saying.

Kagura explained as she narrowed her blue eyes at her knees, "Shina-Chan, the girl beside me, came from a different village also. She too didn't know about the bad part until she trespassed their territory. She was tortured, but was left for dead on a cross. Shina-Chan's body was whipped numerous times."

Chizu continued to stare at her.

I furrowed my brows, and decided to speak up. "It's true, Chizu-Chan."

She questioned with a shocked tone, "How do you know my name?"

It was my turn to sigh. "I asked you what your name was last night, and you said your name. But…you also mentioned someone named Erima."

When I mentioned that, Chizu stared at me with disbelief in her eyes. She whispered, asking, "I-I did?" I nodded my head at her. She bit her lip, gazing away from us as her cheeks flushed.

Did she not want to talk about it? Was she too embarrassed? No, how could she be embarrassed when she cried, saying that her friend died?

I responded with a slight smile, "Yes, you did. Would you like to talk about what happened to your friend?"

Chizu hesitantly turned back to see us, and she was still flushing, but she shook her head, replying, "N-No."

I frowned. Kagura frowned as well, but neither of us spoke. It was now an awkward silence between the three of us.

Kagura and I looked at each other for a few seconds before I sighed again, "Alright, you don't have to talk about it. Though…you did cry a lot last night. We were trying to give you medicine that would help you sleep, but you nearly spit it out."

"I apologize for that, but I was having a _huge_ meltdown."

"I figured."

"I can probably tell you about it later, but right now, I'm too sad."

"We understand, Chizu-Chan."

Kagura suddenly asked, "Was your friend special to you?"

Again, Chizu's face turned as red as an apple. Chizu actually responded, "Yes. But, so was my sister."

"Your sister?" Kagura sort of repeated.

Chizu tilted her head as she began to explain, "I also lost my sister when I was a teenager, but that was long before I met Erima-Chan. My sister died at the age of seven."

"SEVEN?!" Kagura and I shouted at the same time in complete shock.

Chizu continued as water was filling up her eyes, "It's true. She was seven when she died. Almost a decade ago, we were walking through a street, and a group of four teenage boys decided to scare us. One of them was holding a dagger in his hand, which frightened us. I tried my best to protect my little sister, but they took her away from me, and began to stab her. Two of them held my arms, preventing me from saving her. I really wanted to save my little sister, but they stabbed her so much, she was dead within a minute."

After her explanation, Chizu began to cry once more. She covered her mouth with her hand, and tears went down her face, landing it on the side of her hand.

Her neon-green eyes closed tightly as she added, uncovering her mouth, "I was in so much rage, that I forced them to let go of me. After that, I beat them up. I beat them up so hard; blood came out of their noses and mouths. They killed my little sister…I was so angry."

She cried loudly, and yelled, "I NEVER GOT TO SEE HER GROW UP! IT'S NOT FAIR!"

Without warning, she stuffed her face into Kagura's chest. Kagura widened her eyes, but landed her hands on the back of Chizu's head. Chizu sobbed, muffling in Kagura's room-wear kimono.

Chizu muffled, "I LOST TWO IMPORTANT PEOPLE! AM I JUST A BAD PERSON?!" She was also talking about Erima, but she still didn't want to talk about what happened to her for now.

Kagura tried to calm her down, and whispered, "Don't say that, Chizu-Chan. I'm sure you did nothing wrong."

I looked at Chizu, giving her sympathy. I reached my hand out, gently touching her long hair.

I asked her, "What was your sisters' name?"

Chizu leaned back a little, and answered, "Moriko. She was such a sweet little sister." She bit her lower lip, and shut her eyes tightly as she gripped on Kagura's kimono.

Just then, Kotaro came in the room. I looked up to him as he stared at us.

Kagura turned her head to look at him also, but she knitted her brows, and motioned him to leave the room. She probably wanted him to leave because she didn't want him disrupting them.

But Chizu soon drifted the "hug", and said, "Sorry about that."

Kagura half-smiled, "It's alright. Do you want to have some breakfast with us? That is, unless you don't want to."

"No, it's alright. I have to eat, anyway."

"So you'll eat breakfast with us?"

Chizu nodded. Kagura smiled at her once again, but stood up, reaching her hand out. She held onto Chizu's hand, pulling her up from the futon.

The blanket fell onto the floor, and Kagura asked me, "Shina-Chan, can you put away the futon?"

I responded, "I'll do that."

"Thank you."

As Kagura continued to hold Chizu's hand, they both walked out of the spare room, and left me alone to put the futon away. I gave out a silent sigh as I crouched down, folding the blanket and futon itself.

It was now folded neatly, and I carefully picked it up, lifting myself up to stand. I then walked over to the closet, and opened the closet door, where I put the futon back. My hands set the futon down, and I closed the door.

I left the room, and headed for the dining room.

I saw Kagura, Kotaro, and Chizu already sitting down, grabbing some food from the table with their chopsticks. I went over to the table, and sat down beside Kagura. My hand grabbed a bowl, and a pair of chopsticks, where I grabbed some food as well.

As soon as we had our food, we set our hands together, and said at the same time, "Let's eat."

With that, we began to eat breakfast.

While we were eating, I suddenly felt an ache in my chest. The ache hurt, and I nearly gave out a whimper, but I didn't want Kagura or Kotaro to question what was wrong with me. Otherwise I would have to tell them that I saw Shinsuke, and I _still_ wasn't ready to tell them that!

Speaking of Shinsuke, I had a feeling that if I were to walk alone in this tiny village, he would see me, and try to terrify me. And ever since yesterday, I felt as if I couldn't go through the village alone.

I am scared of Shinsuke, no matter how much I deny it. And what am I going to do if he comes after me? I can already tell he wants to haunt me because he smirked at my terrified expression. He obviously _wants_ me to be scared.

I thought as I continued to think of him, _I'm scared of him…but can I try to be brave towards him? And why won't this ache stop?_

The ache in my heart didn't go away, and it certainly didn't help when I was still eating. I couldn't eat anymore, due to the sadness in my heart. But…I need to eat, because if I don't, Kagura will wonder why I've stopped all of a sudden.

So I forced myself to eat. I chewed slowly, but the food managed to go down my throat.

Chizu had her eyes narrowed, with a sad expression. She wasn't crying, thankfully, but I still felt really bad for her for losing two people, that were important to her.

_Her sister and her friend…jeez, it really is sad that they both died._

It was still quiet…until Chizu spoke up.

"This is delicious."

Both Kotaro and Kagura smiled, which I was glad, because I wanted to at least see a smile today.

Kagura replied to her, "Thank you, Chizu-Chan."

"Anytime," Chizu murmured as she continued to eat.

When the dining room got quiet again, I began to wonder, _Will I have to watch my back when I'm outside? Wait, what am I saying? Of course I'll have to, because if I don't…Shinsuke might catch me, and try to hurt me mentally._

* * *

**If you're confused on some parts, you should be! XD They'll be explained later on, though.**

**Anyway, I'm not happy with this chapter. I had some lack of thought on what I would write for this chapter, yet I didn't want to write it so short (Yes, I am that stubborn. :P). And before anyone asks, no, we will not get to meet Hiragi and Kisaki (The names on the papers Shinsuke had in his room), because they're not important.**

**As for the flashback/dream Chizu had, I'll let you know that I don't like yuri, but I made an exception, and decided to write that part down. But it will be the last time I write down a yuri part, because I'm not a fan of yuri. XP**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 3! :)**


	4. Terrifying glare

**Okay, I've been informed that a "room-wear kimono" doesn't really exist. Keddy (One of the people who reviewed this), if you're reading this, please forgive my stupidity. ^^; So instead, I'm just going to call them kimonos. But anyway, enjoy!**

**Ikara: That's okay. I don't mind people who don't review my stories. XD And thank you! :D Even though I don't follow most history, I wouldn't want to be too modern on something like this. Oh, I won't answer that question right now, because it's supposed to be a bit of a mystery. I will reveal that part, though, later on. Again, thank you. ^^**

* * *

A week passed since I came to the Senkurojima village. Most of the week, I stayed inside, because I was terrified of seeing Shinsuke again.

Chizu was going to tell us about Erima last week, but she didn't seem comfortable about it, so Kagura, Kotaro, and I decided that we would give her some time before she would finally decide to tell us. After all, there was no rush.

I was in my room, taking some of my kimono off. I was stuck in these bandages since I started "living" here, and I thought it would be a good time to see how my cuts were.

I unwrapped some of the bandages, and saw that the cuts were closed. Smiling at it with relief, I wrapped the bandages back on my body. I was going to leave these on for just a little longer.

After putting my kimono on normally again, I stood up, and walked out of my room. Kagura had to go to a "meeting" with the doctors in this village, so the only people that were in this house were Kotaro, me, and Chizu.

I saw Kotaro walking by, and he asked, "Shina-Chan, did Kagura-Chan tell you when she was going to be back?"

I responded with a half-smile, "All she told me was that she was going to be home in a couple of hours."

"I see. Well, that's all I wanted to know."

Kotaro walked passed me, heading to his own room. I stood still for a moment, and thought, _Kagura-Chan…I still feel sad for you and Kotaro-San. I wish we could all leave this village, but the doctors won't let you do so._

I don't think I'll ever understand the reason why the doctors won't let Kagura or Kotaro leave this village.

Anyway, I decided to go into another room, where Chizu was eating lunch. She was silent as she rubbed her eyes. I stared at the back of her head, and said her name, "Chizu-Chan."

She lifted her head up slightly, and turned around, looking at me. She asked, "What is it, Shina-Chan?"

"Are you still…overwhelmed by this whole…mess?" I didn't want to pressure her or anything, but I was getting really curious as to why Erima died.

Chizu narrowed her neon-green eyes, and responded quietly, "You could say that. Shina-Chan, I think…I'm ready to tell you what happened to Erima."

I was a bit surprised at what she just said, but I soon gave her a nod, and took a few steps forward before kneeling down beside her.

She was actually done eating her food, and she began to explain to me as I listened carefully, "Erima…was more than just a friend. She…was actually my lover."

That's when my eyes widened. I thought in question, _Lover? Is Chizu-Chan…?_

Before I got to finish my thought, Chizu continued, "In my hometown, it was, and still is, forbidden to love another person with the same gender as you. Erima and I were lovers almost three years ago, and we were forced to keep it a secret, because if anyone found out, we would be in danger. We were able to keep it as secret as possible, but somehow, somebody found out about our relationship a year and a half later. The leader of our village was going to kill both of us, but Erima told me to run away. She was the one who decided to take her own life. She didn't want me to die too."

Tears were starting to form in Chizu's eyes. She lowered her eyelids as she added, "I was able to run away from the village, but not before seeing her one last time. I hid in the bushes, and saw the leader kill her. When I saw it, I was petrified to the point where I had nightmares about it. I ran away from my home, and never went back."

As soon as she was done explaining, I furrowed my brows, still staring at her. Chizu made a weak smile as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her head was tilting down, and drips of tears were landing on the table.

Her shoulders shook as she weakly whispered, "I wish…I could've saved her. But it's too late now. I can't change the past, no matter how badly I want to!" Chizu covered her wet eyes with her hands, and cried, muffling in them.

I decided to try to calm her down by hugging her shoulders. Chizu gasped when she noticed this, but seconds later, she cried again, and gripped onto my kimono sleeves. I closed my own eyes, feeling water forming in my eyes as well.

I whispered as I rested my cheek on her shoulder, "I'm sorry for what you've been through, Chizu-Chan."

Chizu hiccupped, "Th-Thank you, Shina-Chan."

"Just remember that you're not alone."

Just then, Kotaro came into the room as well. He asked, "What's wrong with Chizu-Chan now?"

I let go of Chizu's shoulders, and stood up, responding to the man, "Kotaro-San, she told me what happened to this girl named Erima. She told me that she was her lover, who was killed."

His eyes widened in shock. Kotaro stared at us dumbstruck, and repeated, "L-Lover?"

Chizu's cheeks turned red, but she nodded her head in response. Kotaro gave out a sigh, and said, "So that's why she wasn't comfortable telling us this before."

Chizu spoke up, "But I'm glad I was able to say it."

I gave her a soft smile.

Kotaro, without alarming me, asked, "Shina-Chan, will you go get some more water from the stream?"

I blinked as I gazed at him. Kagura and Kotaro told me a few days ago that there was a stream, not far from here.

Despite fearing that Shinsuke might find me, I nodded anyway, and answered, "Yes, Kotaro-San. I shall do that."

"Good. Here's the bucket." He grabbed the handle of the wooden bucket, and as I was walking towards him, he gave it to me.

I grabbed the bucket, and held it as I said, "I'll be back soon."

"Be careful," He told me.

I put on my sandals, and headed out the door. I closed the door behind me, and began to roam through the village, trying to find the stream. I've only been to the stream once, so I have doubts that I'll be able to find it right away.

The village was dead silent. I saw nobody out of their homes, and it suddenly felt like I was the only person in this village. The atmosphere was starting to get a little heavy, and I gave myself a cracked smile as I thought, _Well, this feels awkward, even though there's no one around me._

My feet took slow, but somewhat long, steps. I kept looking both ways, wondering if anyone would at least step out of their house to do some errand. But no one did. I bit my lower lip as the atmosphere around me was getting heavier.

Without thinking, I began to run, trying to get to the stream as quickly as possible. I held the handle of the bucket tightly, and shut my eyes as I said to no one in particular, "I gotta get to the stream!"

In a matter of minutes, I was able to find the stream. I panted with exhaustion, but gave out a smile of relief.

I knelt down on the grass, and held the bucket on one side, setting it in the water. The water wasn't deep, but I didn't care about that.

The water was slowly going into the bucket, and as silly as it sounds, I actually like the sound of water roaming in streams. It gives me a calm feeling, or something like that.

But I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to be aware of Shinsuke, in case he was going to find me.

And when I felt off-guard, I heard Shinsuke's voice right behind my back.

"It's nice seeing you again, huh, Shina-Chan?"

I heard him chuckle, and almost immediately, I gasped loudly. My eyes widened in complete shock as I quickly turned my head around, seeing the man with a playful smirk on his face. He had his pipe in his mouth, and his olive eye stared into my purple ones.

Feeling as if I was being sucked into those eyes, my throat clogged up. My mouth parted, but no words escaped my lips.

I continued to stare up at the man as he added, "Were you trying to hide all week? I can actually tell, because I tried looking for you since we last saw each other."

My fingers were on the bucket, that way the bucket wouldn't float away in the water. A drop of sweat rolled down my cheek as I hesitantly replied, "Wh-Why did you even want to see me?"

He stared at me for a second before chuckling darkly, "Because I love seeing your terrified face." Shinsuke pulled his pipe out, blowing a puff of smoke from his thin lips. He squinted his one good eye at me, and my heart was starting to beat at an incredible speed.

This man was _really_ scaring me.

Without warning, Shinsuke took a step towards me, and roughly grabbed my arm, pulling me up. I let go of the bucket, and gasped loudly again as his face was dangerous close to mine.

My shoulders shook tremendously as he whispered, "Tell me…how scared are you?" He leaned in closer until he licked my cheek. I widened my eyes more, and felt even more horrified by his actions. I don't think I've ever been this scared in all my life.

When I didn't answer, Shinsuke chuckled a second time, "You're terrified as hell, aren't you?" He stopped licking my cheek, but I still felt fear throughout my body.

Shinsuke put his pipe back in his mouth, but he grabbed my cheeks with his hands, and forced me to look at him in the eyes.

He muttered as he landed his forehead on mine, "If you're not careful, I could easily capture you."

The last three words he said didn't make much sense, but he let go of my face, and turned around, leaving me.

When I could barely see him anymore, my vision was getting a little blurry. I didn't blink, but the water was slowly coming out of my eyes.

My knees suddenly felt weak, and in a split second, I was kneeling on the grass again. Tears were streaming down my face, and I finally shut my eyes tightly. My fists were on my eyes, and I began to sob.

_Somebody help me! I'm terrified, and I don't know what to do!_

But after remembering that the bucket was still in the water, I swiftly turned my body around, and saw that it was nearly full. I grabbed the handle, and pulled it out of the water. I smiled at it, but weakly.

I held the handle with one hand, and started heading back to the house. I was silent the entire time, but that was basically because I was alone.

While I was going back, I still didn't see anybody out of their houses. I didn't even hear anyone. Could it be that…they left this village? No, that couldn't have been it, because if they did leave, I would've probably noticed.

Soon, I was back at the house, and managed to stop crying, though my eyes were burning from the tears.

I weakly announced, "I-I'm back."

Kotaro noticed me, and replied, "Your eyes are red."

"Oh, the water got in my eyes," I quickly lied.

I didn't want to tell him (Or Chizu and Kagura) that I saw Shinsuke again. Or rather, Shinsuke found _me_. I hated lying to him, but I didn't want him to worry. Though, I was going to have to tell him, Kagura, and Chizu sometime, because otherwise I'll just feel scared for the rest of my life.

Chizu was writing something on a piece of paper with black ink. Without looking at me, she said, "Your eyes can't be that red if you just got water in them."

Kotaro raised a brow at her, and said, "You haven't even seen her eyes yet."

Chizu stopped writing for a moment, and turned her head, so that she could see my eyes. She spoke again, "See? Your eyes are that red."

I didn't know why, but my cheeks were starting to burn. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly as Kotaro sighed, "Anyway, Shina-Chan, just put it by the door."

I gave him a nod before setting the bucket of water down. I entered the room, and went closer to Chizu as I asked, "What're you writing there, Chizu-Chan?"

The blonde-haired woman continued to write on the paper, and responded, "I'm writing about my sadness."

"Your sadness?" I repeated. Chizu nodded slowly.

I looked over at her paper, and read in my mind, _"Erima-Chan will always be the one I've loved, no matter how long it's been since her death. I may or may not accept her death, but I can be sure of this. Whenever I think about the times we had together, I will cry."_

The note on the paper did sound sad, to be honest. I don't blame Chizu at all for feeling this emotional about her lovers' death. And I was pretty glad she told me her story.

But Chizu still had a sad look on her face. She set the brush back into the small jar of black ink, and lifted up the paper carefully, as to not having the ink drip away.

Chizu asked me, "Were you reading my note?" She didn't sound serious, but I yelped slightly.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I sighed, "Yes."

Expecting her to get mad at me, she just smiled. She replied, "You don't have to be ashamed for reading it, Shina-Chan. You already know about my story with Erima-Chan. If you didn't, then I would've been mad at you."

"I see," I sighed again, but with relief.

Chizu stood up from the floor, and said, "I'm going to put this in the room."

"Which room?"

"The room I'm sleeping in."

"Oh."

She went to her room.

As it became silent, I remembered something else.

_Shinsuke…licked my cheek._

My eyes widened in slight horror, and I rapidly ran to the bucket of water. I thought once more, _I need to clean my cheek!_

Perhaps I was being a bit of a drama queen, but when Shinsuke licked part of my cheek, it was downright frightening. Sure, his glare was scary enough, but that action of his' was _much_ worse.

I cupped some water into my right hand, and immediately splashed it into my face. I rubbed my cheek a bit violently as I clenched my teeth.

After rubbing my cheek for about ten seconds, I gasped, and turned my head to the side, seeing Kotaro and Chizu staring at me with raised brows.

Another cracked smile appeared on my face, and I laughed awkwardly, "I-I thought I had some dirt on my face."

They both stopped staring at me. I was relieved at that, but thought, _How many times is Shinsuke going to see me before he stops scaring me?_

That was the only question I had in mind.

**-3****rd**** POV-**

At the Harumokiri area, the gang was doing their usual things. They weren't torturing another person this time, but they were having inappropriate conversations, such as talking about death.

But inside the golden-colored building, Shinsuke was in his room, along with Bansai. They were both drinking sake, despite the fact that it was early in the afternoon.

Neither of them were drunk, but Shinsuke started to have the aftertaste of sake in his throat. He asked his teal-haired friend, "Bansai…what do you think your love is doing at this moment?"

Bansai nearly choked on his small cup of sake, but was lucky that his cup was just about empty. He asked a bit loudly, "Why're you asking me this, Shinsuke?! I thought you weren't going to mention anything about my love again!"

Shinsuke snickered, "I never said I wasn't _ever_ going to mention her. You haven't answered my question, though. What do you think your lover is doing right now?"

"That is none of your concern!" Bansai growled as he set his cup down. Shinsuke just chuckled once again. And the more he chuckled, the angrier Bansai became.

Bansai thought as he clenched his teeth, _Why must Shinsuke talk about this?!_

The one-eyed man stared into Bansai's eyes, and asked, "What was her name? Was it…Michiru?"

Yes, Bansai did tell Shinsuke his lovers' name, but that didn't mean he wanted him to bring her up.

Bansai stood up, and said, "You know, I told you earlier that I'd be heading to Yoshikawa when it got dark out, but I'm going to be leaving now."

"Bansai…are you leaving right now just because of my question?"

"I don't want you speaking to me until I return."

"When are you returning, though?"

"In about two weeks."

"Heh, isn't it tiring that you have to travel a long way, just to see your girlfriend?"

"Shut up!" Bansai exclaimed, feeling as if he was at his limit. "I don't just walk! I also get rides from people who use wagons!"

Shinsuke tilted his head down, and smirked at his friend, "I figured you'd answer that." Okay, maybe Shinsuke was starting to get a little drunk.

Bansai knitted his brows, and grabbed his straw hat as he replied, "I'll be back in two weeks, Shinsuke." With that, he walked out of the room.

When Bansai was out of sight, Shinsuke continued to have that smirk on his face. Another chuckle escaped his lips as he took yet another drink of sake.

He licked his lips, and thought off-topic, _Shina…you should be scared. I'm coming to get you._

He gave out the darkest chuckle ever. It was so dark…that it sounded like it came from a monster.

* * *

**I do apologize for not updating in the past month, but I guess it's doesn't matter, since nobody cares about me. *sulks in a corner***

**You may be asking why this chapter is shorter than the other ones in this story. Well, I decided to not pressure myself on making the chapters long, because I'd probably make this story a little too boring. Speaking of which, perhaps it wasn't a great idea for me to have the setting in an abandoned village, since there's pretty much almost nothing to do in a somewhat abandoned village. But hey, once I start writing a story, I have to finish it. **

**I wasn't originally going to mention Michiru's name until she actually appeared, but I changed my mind. :P**

**Anyway, I was glad I got my inspiration back for this story, so I hope you enjoyed chapter 4! :)**


	5. First sight

**Enjoy!**

**Ikara: Really? Aw, thanks. X3 And I'm planning on bringing Michiru in the chapter after this. I just love writing her! Actually, she one of my favorite OC's, even though I created her. XD Oh, okay. I was a little worried there, because I didn't want people complaining how boring the story is. ^^;**

* * *

Bansai walked through the Harumokiri area, passing gang members. The gang members ignored him, because they knew him well enough to not do anything to him (Since Bansai was with Shinsuke).

He didn't bother looking at any of the gang members. He thought as he put his straw hat on, _Shinsuke was getting on my nerves. Why did he suddenly have to bring up Michiru?_

Some of the sake might've taken over Shinsuke, as in making him a bit drunk, but he meant what he said. And just thinking about this irritated Bansai.

Bansai wrapped what looked to be a cloth around his chest, and exited out of the area, now leaving the somewhat abandoned village.

Despite how long he's been living in the village, he sometimes wished it would just break down. He didn't want the Senkurojima village to exist anymore. No, he wanted it to crumble down to a million pieces. He wasn't a kind, light-hearted person, but he would much rather not watch people torture others. Even if Bansai didn't like very many people in general, he wouldn't dare himself to harm another human being.

He walked a bit far away from the village, and lifted his hat up as he thought once again, _Perhaps I'll calm down when I visit Michiru._

He has known Michiru for quite a long time. Well, at least before he met Shinsuke, which was when he was a teenager. At first, he and Michiru didn't talk to each other much. In fact, they used to ignore each other because Michiru didn't like the way he acted (Such as adding "I daresay" at the end of his sentences). But, over the years, they talked to one another more often, and developed feelings for each other.

Bansai walked for a good few minutes before standing by a dirt road. He looked both ways, seeing if any wagon was about to pass by.

When he didn't see anybody, he waited patiently, and within moments, he heard a wagon slowly approaching.

The teal-haired man lifted his hat up some more, seeing the dark-colored wagon, filled with junk. Yeah, let's just call it junk, because it really did look like garbage.

The man, who was riding the wagon, pulled on the ropes, making his horses stop. He saw the other male, and asked, "Hey there, fella. You need a ride?"

Bansai gave him a nod, and the man added, "Well, hop in! Where to, fella?"

Bansai answered quietly, but made sure that the man heard him, "Yoshikawa."

The elder man widened his eyes, and exclaimed, "What a coincidence! I was heading for Yoshikawa too! In fact, I'm going there to meet somebody, so that he can help me with my invention! Are you meeting somebody there as well?"

"You could say that," Bansai responded as he hopped on the back of the wagon.

The man chuckled, "Well, try to get yourself comfortable, because it's going to be a long ride."

"I knew that. I've been to Yoshikawa a few times."

"From here?"

"Yes, I daresay."

"Wow, that's amazing. This is actually going to be my second time visiting it. The last time I went there…er, it was around a decade ago. But don't worry, I know exactly where to go!"

"Good," Bansai muttered under his breath as he leaned back.

The horses in front started walking again. As the wagon was moving, Bansai was trying to get himself comfortable, since it would take at least a few days to get to Yoshikawa.

But his mind was back on Shinsuke.

"_What was her name? Was it…Michiru?"_

Bansai clenched his teeth slightly when that thought crossed his mind.

_Shinsuke, how dare you ask me a question like that?! I won't let you say anything inappropriate about her, because it's none of your business! You better stay out of it, or I will snap._

Bansai may be a calm person, but if Shinsuke pissed him off enough, he would try to attack him. Luckily, it would take a _lot_ to piss him off, so it's not that possible for Bansai to snap so violently.

The first thing that Bansai would do, when he would get to Yoshikawa, was to kiss Michiru on the lips softly. Spending some time with her would definitively calm him down from his anger. And even if he still looked angry, he would have no problem telling Michiru about his problems with Shinsuke.

He was just hoping he wouldn't take his anger out on his lover.

**-Shina's POV-**

It was getting dark out, and Kagura finally returned from her "meeting". She exclaimed, "I'm back!"

I walked a bit slowly, and greeted her with a small smile, "Welcome home, Kagura-Chan."

She smiled back, "Thank you."

Kotaro walked beside me, and asked as he crossed his arms, "Did you bring more medicine?" He probably meant medicine in general.

Kagura narrowed her eyes, but answered sadly, "The doctors didn't have anymore. But they'll make more medicine within the next few weeks."

Out of curiosity, I asked the salmon-haired girl, "Kagura-Chan…how exactly do the doctors make the medicines?"

She blinked her blue eyes at me, but landed her hand on the back of her head, and responded as she gave me a cracked smile, "To be honest, the doctors wouldn't tell us. It's kept secret."

"I see," I replied, giving out a soft chuckle.

My chuckle soon died out, because I was suddenly thinking about Shinsuke.

Earlier, I was getting some water at the stream, and Shinsuke caught me there.

He was trying to scare me on purpose. He wanted to see how scared I was of him.

I'm terrified. It feels like I can _never_ leave this house again. If I just stay here, he won't know where I am…right? How would he possibly know where I'm staying, anyway?

As I was starting to stare off into space, Kagura informed us, "Zura, Shina-Chan, Chizu-Chan…I found out earlier today that the rest of the villagers have left."

Kotaro replied, "It's not Zura, it's Katsura. And what do you mean the rest of the villagers have left?"

"They left the village, and they're never coming back. So the only people that're in this village now are the doctors, us, and the Harumokiri gang."

My mouth parted as soon as I heard those words come out of Kagura's mouth.

_So…everybody else has left. Well, it's best if they never come back, but…it's not fair for us._

Chizu spoke up, "I don't know why, but suddenly, I feel like we're in prison, now that the other villagers have left this place."

"Don't worry, Chizu-Chan," Kagura said. "I feel the same way."

She furrowed her brows slightly, and walked through the room as she added, "Someday…we're going to get out of this hellhole, even if it takes us months, or even years! I just don't want to be here anymore!"

Feeling as if she was about to snap, I quickly walked over to her, and landed a hand on her shoulder. She quietly gasped, and swiftly turned her head to look at me. What I saw in her eyes now were tears, about to escape.

I gave her a weak smile before saying, "It's okay, Kagura-Chan. You're not alone."

She squinted her eyes, and without warning, she turned her body around, and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

I hugged her back, but I also felt Chizu and Kotaro hugging us.

Kotaro whispered as he closed his eyes, "We'll leave this village together."

Chizu agreed, "That's right."

The four of us continued to hug, not wanting to let go of each other.

**-3****rd**** POV-**

When a few hours passed since Bansai got on the wagon, he was lying down, trying to get some rest. But due to the hard, flat floor of the wagon, he couldn't sleep very well, no matter how hard he tried.

He frowned, and thought, _Looks like I'll be staying up all night._

Bansai turned his head to the side, and noticed a small pillow, used for futons. He raised a teal brow, wondering why there was a pillow in a wagon, full of useless stuff.

But he soon realized, _That must belong to the old man. Well, hopefully, he won't mind me using this pillow._

He grabbed the pillow, and set it on the wood. He then adjusted the pillow, and landed the back of his head on the pillow. He didn't hope that the man wouldn't get angry at him for taking his pillow so suddenly, but all he wanted was to sleep, that way he wouldn't be so tired the next day.

Bansai pulled his hat over his face, and lowered his eyelids, closing his eyes. He crossed his arms as he, once again, tried to make himself comfortable.

The old man turned his head around, seeing Bansai sleeping soundly. He blinked his small eyes a few times before giving him a smile.

He muttered to himself, "I'll let him sleep." He turned back around, and swung the ropes up, making the horses go a bit faster. The old man made sure that he wouldn't wake Bansai up, but since the wheels on the wagon made a lot of noise, it didn't matter, right?

Well, Bansai was still sleeping, despite the noises.

Suddenly, he was having a dream, or flashback, of when he first met Shinsuke.

_(Bansai's Dream/Flashback)_

_Bansai left his home, and was on his own. He used to live in Shiraoka, in the Saitama Prefecture. He left his home, because his mom had died from an illness. He didn't know what kind of illness it was, but he didn't want to know. His father left him and his mother when he was a child, because he had an affair with another woman. Bansai hasn't seen his father since, but he never missed him, because to him, it was wrong to be cheating on the person who loved you._

_His lover, Michiru, moved to Yoshikawa, because her parents told her that it was more peaceful there. Michiru didn't really believe anywhere was "peaceful", but she decided to move there anyway, though she would miss seeing Bansai. Bansai promised that he would visit her at least once in a while. Their love has grown so strong, that he wouldn't let anybody dare hurt her. Michiru wouldn't let anybody hurt Bansai either._

_He loved Michiru, not because she looked pretty (Bansai believes that beauty isn't the key to love at all), but because of how she stands up for herself, and doesn't let fear get in the way, even if she is scared._

_Bansai walked onto an empty road, where it was dead silent. He didn't mind the silence, though something didn't quite feel right. _

_He felt some sort of aura, filling up the atmosphere around him. He stopped walking for a moment before hearing another man's voice, "I see you're on your own, hm?"_

_Bansai widened his light-green eyes a bit as a barely audible gasp escaped his lips. He swiftly turned around, and then saw a man with purple hair, and bandages over his left eye. His right eye was olive-colored._

_The man held a pipe to his lips, and added with a smirk, "May I ask what your name is?"_

_Bansai raised a brow, and asked back, "Why do you need to know my name?"_

"_No reason. I just want to know," The one-eyed man chuckled._

_He was confused at first, but gave out a sigh, and answered, "Bansai Kawakami."_

_The man pulled out his pipe, and blew out a puff of smoke. He replied, "Bansai…what an interesting name. My name is Shinsuke Takasugi."_

_Bansai couldn't tell what this man wanted. Before he could reply, Shinsuke added, "Now, the reason why I asked if you were on your own is because…I'm on my own as well." He gave out yet another chuckle, but Bansai was more confused than ever._

_He raised a brow, and asked, "Is there anything you want, Takasugi-San?"_

"_No."_

"_Then why're you talking to me?"_

"_I was wondering if you'd like to join me. You see, I ran away from a place called Kyoto. I ran away, because I killed lots of people from that village, which made me a criminal."_

_This surprised Bansai. Shinsuke continued, "I found a gang, called the Harumokiri. They're in a shelter at this moment, but we're going to return to a village, which is named Senkurojima. More gang members are there, as I've been told. They told me that some of them left the village, because they wanted a leader. They chose me because they were amazed at how I fought with some of them."_

_Bansai finally spoke up, "And you want me to join you?"_

_Shinsuke nodded, "Yes. I've seen you use a sword before, and I was quite impressed at how you dealt with it."_

"_Wait a minute. Were you…stalking me?" The thought of it crept Bansai out._

_Shinsuke laughed, "I wasn't exactly stalking you. I just saw you one day, in your village."_

_Bansai knitted his brows slightly as he replied, "Well, I know how to handle a sword well, but I don't use them very often, I daresay."_

"_Heh," The one-eyed male chuckled softly. "Anyway, do you want to join me? I'm not forcing you to join, but you'll have to duel me if you say 'no'."_

"_But you only have one sword," Bansai replied._

"_Actually, I brought two, just in case," Shinsuke snickered. _

_Bansai thought about it for a moment before answering, "Yes."_

_He didn't say "yes" because of Shinsuke's "threat". He said it because he had nowhere else to go. And now that he'd thought about it, where would he go? He couldn't just randomly walk through villages, carrying little to no food. He couldn't just stay in his village, either, because he didn't like anybody there, other than his mother._

_Shinsuke smirked with satisfaction, and said, "Good. Follow me, then."_

_With that, he turned around, and began walking in the opposite direction. Bansai blinked once before following him._

_Moments later, they were in a small, worn out building, with seven men. Due to the men's appearances, there was no doubt that these guys were part of the Harumokiri gang._

_Bansai frowned at how they looked. Scars all over their bodies, and tattoos that looked unnatural to him. Bansai and Shinsuke just came into the small building, and already, he was feeling uneasy._

_Shinsuke noticed his expression, and jokingly asked, "What's wrong, Bansai-San? Are you feeling uncomfortable already?"_

_He shook his head._

_Shinsuke chuckled for the umpteenth time, and introduced Bansai to the men, "Everyone, this is Bansai Kawakami. He'll be joining in from now on."_

"_Eh? Why do we suddenly need another guy when he doesn't even have any tattoos or scars like us?" A gang member asked as he hacked up some spit._

_The man smirked, "He knows how to handle a sword well. Not very many people can handle swords, and Bansai-San told me that he can."_

_All seven men stared at Bansai with wide eyes. They weren't completely surprised, but they smirked at him, making Bansai even more uncomfortable._

_When Shinsuke found out how uncomfortable Bansai was just by looking at him, he landed a hand on his shoulder, and said, "Bansai…you decided to join me, so there's no turning back now."_

_Hesitantly, he nodded his head. Part of him regretted joining Shinsuke, along with the gang, but another part of him said that he had nowhere else to go, as stated before._

_He wished he was with Michiru now, but her parents wanted her to go to Yoshikawa alone, which wasn't fair for either of them. _

_Ever since he joined with Shinsuke, life was never easy for him. Not that it was ever easy in the first place, when he was trying his best to take care of his deceased mother._

_(End of Dream/Flashback)_

Barely opening his eyes, Bansai tried to remember how he and Shinsuke became friends in the first place. When he couldn't remember clearly, he felt frustrated. He still sort of regretted joining Shinsuke's group, but at the same time, he didn't.

He never quite understood the _real_ reason as to why Shinsuke wanted him to join, when he rarely even got to use a sword. Sure, he got used to the Harumokiri gang years ago, but still.

Bansai parted his lips slightly, and thought, _Why are Shinsuke and I even friends? Just because he wanted me to refer to him by his first name, doesn't mean we're the biggest friends in the world. It doesn't make any sense now._

He gave out a half-irritated sigh, and leaned up a bit, re-adjusting the pillow under his head. He decided to pull his hat away from his face, and set it beside his hip. As soon as his head was back on the pillow, he opened his eyes fully, and gazed up at the clear, dark sky.

The sky was filled with millions, if not billions, of stars. Bansai landed his hands on the back of his head, still on the pillow. He decided to wander his mind off by searching for the "big dipper" in the sky.

He searched through the blackish-blue sky, and soon enough, he could see the connection of the "big dipper". A small smile appeared on his face as he thought, _Isn't it funny how lots of people find "the big dipper" in the sky at night?_

He was amazed at himself for finding it that quickly. A soft chuckle escaped his lips, and he finally calmed himself down.

Bansai decided to stay up for a little longer. But all of a sudden, he saw a shooting star flying across the sky. He gasped almost silently, and wondered as he slightly widened his eyes, _A shooting star? Well, this is rare._

He chuckled once again. Bansai never really believed all that "wishing on a shooting star" stuff, but he liked seeing the sight of it. To him, it was beautiful.

Bansai narrowed his eyes as he whispered to no one in particular, "Watching a star fly through the sky is a beautiful sight, I daresay."

Seconds after he said that, he closed his eyes, and this time, he was really sleeping.

* * *

**Hahaha, I almost wrote a Bansai-centric (Is that the right word? o.o) chapter! XD That actually wasn't on purpose, but I guess the reason why I wrote a lot of Bansai in this chapter was because, well, I love Bansai! And if I didn't add Shina's POV, this chapter would've been about Bansai completely! **

**So, as I mentioned on the top notes, we'll be meeting Michiru in the next chapter, and I'm pretty excited to write her again!**

**I'm aware that this chapter was rushed, but I had so much trouble while writing it, including Bansai's flashback. I know, the flashback sucked, but I wrote it so that people would know how he met Shinsuke. *Chuckles awkwardly***

**Well, hope you enjoyed chapter 5! :)**


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